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A child with a toy telephone

Rolandic epilepsy (also referred to as BECTS/BECCTS) is one of the most common forms of epilepsy in children. It accounts for up to 20% of cases of childhood epilepsy, affecting boys and girls equally. The onset occurs between 3 and 10 years and the condition resolves by adulthood.

Although described as 'benign', children with rolandic epilepsy have an increased risk of poor educational outcomes and on-going literacy problems have been reported in patients in remission. There are different sources of reading difficulties, which require very different types of intervention and to date we do not know what characterizes the reading difficulties of children with rolandic epilepsy.

This project seeks to apply what is already known about the causes of reading difficulties in children who do not have rolandic epilepsy to children with rolandic epilepsy. We hope that this work will inform educational interventions for children with rolandic epilepsy.

For further information about rolandic epilepsy, or other forms of epilepsy, please see the Epilepsy Action website.

Our Research Questions

  • Can children with rolandic epilepsy be characterized as poor word readers, poor comprehenders, poor at both aspects of reading, or a heterogeneous group with different reading profiles?
  • Which memory and language skills underpin the reading difficulties found in children with rolandic epilepsy?
  • Is there a relationship between reading difficulties and Speech Sound Disorder in this population?