[Influence of epilepsy-related factors on scholastic achievement in an epileptic child]

We studied 30 children aged between 5 and 12 years (mean = 8.7 years: standard deviation = (+)-1 9678) who suffered from partial epileptic crises, with or without secondary generalization, cryptogenic, who had had this disorder for more than one year, and who attended ordinary schools. The objective was to ascertain the educational results obtained, and to evaluate the effect of some of the factors related to epilepsy, in these results. The scholar's family was interviewed in all cases to record: the age of onset and duration of the illness, the frequency of crises, attendance at school and results obtained in the previous school year. The school results were: 5 children had results E (16.67%). 10 (33.33%) were classed as MB, 6 (20%) as B, 5 had R (16.67%) and 4 (13.33%) were evaluated as M. It is concluded that the factors most closely related to poor school results in the group studied were: a frequency of more than three crises in the previous year, partial crises with secondary generalization and failure to attend school because of crises.