Impactos da epilepsia e suas comorbidades nas alterações de linguagem em escolares: estudos de casos

Abstract

The effects of epilepsy can lead to impairments in the linguistic development of children and adolescents, which impact learning and academic performance. The study explores the difficulties faced by students with epilepsy, associated with comorbidities such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Intellectual Development Disorder (IDD). The research, qualitative and descriptive in nature, analyzes clinical cases in detail concerning skills and competencies such as vocabulary, phonological awareness, phonological working memory, reading, writing, oral and written narrative discourse. The results show that frequent and poorly controlled epileptic seizures significantly impair academic and social performance, affecting memory, discursive organization, and linguistic processing. Furthermore, the impact of epilepsy varies according to the type of seizure and the presence of comorbidities. Cases with adequate seizure control and absence of severe comorbidities showed performance closer to what is expected. The study concludes that there are deficits in language aspects such as vocabulary, phonological processing, syntactic awareness, reading, writing, and discourse, found in patients with comorbidities. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis, associated with personalized therapeutic interventions and adapted educational strategies, essential to reduce the damages caused by epilepsy. Finally, it highlights the need to expand investigations on the relationship between epilepsy and linguistic development, aiming for advances in treatment and quality of life for affected individuals