Childhood epileptic speech disorder: prolonged, isolated deficit of prosodic features.

A 7 1/2-year-old left-handed boy developed partial complex seizures with a left temporal electroencephalographic focus, together with prolonged, isolated deterioration of speech. Seizures stopped completely with anticonvulsant therapy and speech quickly returned to normal. Quantitative analysis of speech production and the language examination when the disorder was at its worst and after recovery allowed the documentation of the slowing and monotony of speech, in the absence of aphasic disturbance in comprehension and expression. This case illustrates the possibility of prolonged yet rapidly reversible speech deficit as an isolated manifestation of epilepsy and documents an as yet unreported feature of speech disorders of epileptic origin.