Language and cognitive function evolution in Landau-Kleffner syndrome

8 pts (4 ♂, 4 ♀; aged 3 1/2 -8 years) with Landau-Kleffner syndrome were examined in the initial phase of the disease; in all cases there was auditory-verbal agnosia; the verbal expression was regressed to the prelocutory stage in cases with precocious onset (aged 2 1/2 -3) and fairly well preseved in the pts who had fallen ill later. The operative level was at the standard limits or slightly retarded. At the follow up (7 pts: 3 ♂, 4 ♀, age from 11 to 21) the verbal and cognitive development appears deficient in the 2 pts with a precocious onset and a long-lasting disease; in 4 pts a satisfactory verbal evolution and discordant intellectual performances; in 1 pt whose disease began later and did not last long, normalization is evidenced. In the 4 pts with discordant operative level, a very similar neuropsychologic profile is noticed: deficiencies of cognitive functions correlated with the competence of the dominant hemisphere (verbal and sequential logic, auditory memory); some functions connected with the non-dominant hemisphere (visual spatial praxognosies) adequate.