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13 yr old son diagnosed with right TLE
Sat, 11/27/2004 - 23:03Hello all! My 13 year old son had his first seizure in November 2003. After 3 weeks of one seizure after another and numerous tests (EEGs, MRIs), a diagnosis was finally confirmed of right TLE. His seizures are complex partial. His seizures have been controlled for the last year with Trileptal. We suspect he has had seizures for some time before one manifested itself and most us of would call a "seizure". At the age of 3, he was not talking at a level we felt was age appropriate. It turns out, he was trying to use language, he could not make the sounds come out correct. So, he was in speech therapy from the age of 3 through 11. About one year before the first visible seizure, he was having what he termed "speech hesitation", where for a few seconds he could not make a sound. This could happen at any time; when asked a question, he simply could not respond and he would indicate by pointing at his throat that he could not speak. It would even happen in the middle of a sentence. Also during this timeframe, he began sleepwalking. Once he began medications for the seizures, these episodes ended.
My main concerns are that he is now performing poorly in school and is having difficulty interacting with his peers. He has completed a full round of neuropsychological testing and the results are typical for someone with right TLE in that he is a verbal learner versus a visual learner. He seems to be very immature for his age and interacts much better with children 3 to 4 years younger than he is. He is an avid golfer and has competed on junior golf tours since the age of 9. However, since being medicated, his ability to focus has been diminished and his golf game just isn't the same. I think this is very frustrating for him.
I welcome any ideas to help him better cope with his loss of organization and memory lapses.
RE: 13 yr old son diagnosed with right TLE
Submitted by e_nuffofthis on Sat, 2004-11-27 - 23:03
I'm really glad your child is controlled, and sad to hear the problems he is having; however. My son has some similiar things... It's really difficult... I know what you mean. My son is more of a visual learner, however... and his speech is behind as well as his social skills. What can you do? The only thing is to expose him to as much as possible, he is in special ed and I'm blessed to have some really wonderful teachers... we work with him at home w/hooked on phonics, which is does really well with and other various workbooks and I try to get him to draw and color as much as possible. Having him around other children as much as possible. Sometimes an older child may help. But the meds can make things more difficult, try to discuss this w/your neuro to see if maybe something else may be better for him. They seem to think that trileptal doesn't have the cognitive side effects that the others have, but some kids are even more sensitive to it (mine was, trileptal was very bad for him), each child responds to meds differently. Has he had levels done lately? Sometimes the meds build up in their system and he may have too much... just a thought... I hope he continues to do well and stays seizure free.