LANDAU-KLEFFNER SYNDROME DIAGNOSED AFTER 9 YEARS OF AGE - ANOTHER LANDAU-KLEFFNER SYNDROME

We report five cases of Landau-Kleffner syndrome with onset of languag e disorders after the age of 9. Epileptic phenomena had common feature s with those typically described in cases of Landau-Kleffner with earl ier onset. However, patterns of linguistic deficits differed. Massive comprehension disorder with auditory agnosia was found in only one sub ject. For the other subjects the aphasia was primarily expressive with dysfluency and word-finding difficulties. The data suggest that the p revalence of massive receptive disorders in Landau-Kleffner syndrome v aries according to the age at onset. The time of onset of a complete s yndrome (aphasia + epilepsy) could also be of some critical importance since epileptic phenomena in our cases occurred long before the onset of linguistic impairments. An alternative to the 'perceptive theory' must be found, as it does not apply to children who do not display com prehension difficulties.