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Social Skills And Executive Functioning In Children With Epileptic And Non-Epileptic Seizures, Ashley J. Levan

Theses and Dissertations

Prior studies have demonstrated that a sizeable percentage of children presenting to the epilepsy monitoring unit for evaluation of paroxysmal events (seizures) are found to have non-epileptic seizures (NES) (Asano et al., 2005). The importance of identifying NES cannot be overstated since misdiagnosis often leads to treatment with antiepileptic drugs, which may have side effects that may negatively impact cognition (Chen, Chow, & Lee, 2001) and perhaps even cognitive development. While studies in adults with epilepsy or NES have demonstrated impaired executive functioning and social outcome compared to healthy peers, less work is present among pediatric populations (Cragar, Berry, Fakhoury, …