About the project
Nocturnal epileptiform activity is an underdiagnosed condition and not well known among clinicians. The condition might have serious impact on a persons cognitive functioning and a relationship between epileptiform activity and delayed language development is described. Knowledge about cognitive development in general and language skills in particular is essential in the process of clarifying which markers to be aware of when identifying children with nocturnal epileptiform activity.
A group of children with nocturnal epileptiform activity (NEA) is tested with a broad assessment consisting of language - and nonverbal tests. The parents answer questionnaires about the development of the child and the family background. In addition, the NEA-group is compared to a group of typical developing children.
The preliminary research questions are A.)What do previous studies tell us about children with nocturnal epileptiform activity and their language skills? B.)What characterises language skills in children with nocturnal epileptiform activity? and C.)In what ways do language skills differ between children with nocturnal epileptiform activity and typical developing children?
The study is done in close collaboration with the National Centre for Epilepsy - SSE.
Responsible for this study is Ph.D-student Silje Systad, main supervisor Professor Solveig Lyster (ISP) and co-supervisor Medical Doctor Marit Bjørnvold (SSE).