7 Important Things About Landau Kleffner Syndrome

Landau Kleffner Sydrome is an uncommon condition that that renders a child unable to identify sounds while the language skills are poorly developed. If diagnosed and treated early the child can be able to live abnormal life.
Research has not been able to identify the actual cause of the condition.

Some scientists believe that the condition is a result of seizures in the brain before the appearance of the symptoms. It is still unknown if the brain seizures cause the condition or is a direct symptom of it. The condition is characterized by poor language skills and unusual electric episodes in the child’s brain.

A child affected by the disorder starts to change in language skills by uttering words wrongly which is a sign of the disease. The child should be tested for hearing problems. However, the condition does not lead to complete deafness or reduce the intelligence of the child. It starts by making your child unable to identify sounds. If the condition is left untreated, the child cannot recognize sound anymore.

In case the test for hearing problems proves that the ears are not affected, then a neurologist can test for sudden electric episodes in the brain using the EEG test. EEG test is primarily taken to offer clues on fits. Unusual EEG can confirm the presence of Landau Kleffner Syndrome if the child has difficulties in recognizing sounds.

Early detection can really help a child. If you suspect a loved one is affected, call the doctor right away. Your doctor should be able to call a physician or a colleague specializing in mental disorders.

The initial symptoms appear when the child is between 3 and 7 years old. The children start by losing skills in speech and learning activities in school. Hearing problems may come suddenly or after sometime. However, hearing problems often occur at the same time with the loss of language and speech skills.

Treatment for Landau Kleffner Syndrome is never easy. Most of the medications given are meant to reduce the effects of seizures in the child’s brain. Drugs that are administered include anti-seizure medications and corticosteroids to enable the child regain some language recognition.  The dosage should be monitored closely because several children may resist them. Intravenous drugs may also be used for those who build slow response to other prescribed medications.

Although surgery may be an option, many doctors view it as experimental. There are patients who are given specials diets with more fat to reduce the chances of seizures associated to epilepsy. However, it has not been concluded that those diets can have the same effects on the patients with Landau Kleffner Syndrome.

Being a very uncommon disorder, Landau Kleffner Syndrome patients are hard to predict their outlook after some time. Some children may regain the lost speech and language skills while others may not. Some of those who regain language abilities are even able to enroll in normal school classes. With effective treatment, the children may even end up to university level.

Landau Kleffner Syndrome and School

Most people think their kids stop paying attention to them sometimes and they are probably right.  But when your previously chatty, out-going child seems to be unable to follow your instructions, or becomes frustrated in school because the directions don’t make sense anymore, it might be a sign of a more serious situation.

Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is an extremely rare condition that affects the brain and nervous system.  Doctors are unsure what causes it, and studying the disease is difficult because it occurs so infrequently.  Only 160 cases of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome have been confirmed between 1957 and 1990.

The symptoms of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome are sometimes mistaken for Autism Spectrum Disorder, particularly high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome.  However, an important difference between Landau-Kleffner Syndrome and Asperger’s Syndrome is the age at which the symptoms begin.

In Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, a child who has been using language correctly may begin to show signs of what appears to be a hearing problem, usually between the ages of 3-7.  Asperger’s Syndrome patients never really develop their language skills as fully as Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients and are often diagnosed much earlier than age three because of other developmental problems.

Children with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome reach all of their developmental milestones within common ranges.  They babble, talk, and go on to more complex language use on a level with their peers.  However, for some unknown reason, at some point they become unable to understand spoken language.  Teachers and parents may suspect a hearing loss, but any the child would score normally on a hearing test.  The problem is not with hearing, but with understanding what is being said.

If left untreated, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome can eventually affect the child’s ability to speak.  If the child has learned to read and write before the start of the listening problems, they can often continue to communicate through writing.  Intelligence is not affected by Landau-Kleffner Syndrome and some children develop gestures or signs to help them communicate.

Early detection and treatment appears to be extremely important for ensuring a good outcome for Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients.  If you suspect Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, you should tell your child’s doctor immediately.  He or she will contact a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in brain-based disorders, to make a definite diagnosis.

During this diagnosis phase, the neurologist should order an EEG, which is a test that measures electrical activity in the brain.  It is a painless, non-invasive procedure done while a patient is sleeping.  All Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients show unusual electrical activity throughout the brain.

If your child does have Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, you and your doctor should put together a team of specialists who will cooperate to create the best outcome possible.  Some of the specialists you will work with may include a nutritionist, a speech therapist, and a behavioral therapist.  Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is often treated through a combination of medications and diet.

The only long-term study of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients seems to show that with early treatment, many children can continue in mainstream schools and even enroll in college, if they choose.

Landau Kleffner Syndrome Diagnosis

Primarily affecting speech recognition and language use, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is a very rare disorder that, if left untreated, can lead to an inability to recognize sounds in general, such as doorbells, sirens, telephones, or music.  The only long term study of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients shows that, with prompt diagnosis and treatment, many students are able to remain in regular schools.  Many even enroll in college or technical school in time.

Researchers are not certain what causes Landau-Kleffner Syndrome.  Some speculate that a seizure of the brain happens right before symptoms begin, but it is unclear if that is the cause or a symptom of the disorder.  The two most common symptoms are a loss of word recognition which may be either sudden or gradual and the presence of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.  Language-based symptoms usually begin between the ages of 3-7.

If a child who can use language well and follow spoken directions begins to forget words or starts inventing odd words out of frustration, these may be signs of Landau-Kleffner syndrome.  A hearing test should be performed to rule out a hearing loss.  Landau-Kleffner Syndrome does not cause deafness, nor does it affect intelligence.  It makes the brain unable to recognize spoken language first, and if undetected or untreated, it may even lead to a loss of the ability to recognize sounds in general

If the hearing test shows that the ear and auditory nerves are working properly, the doctor should contact a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in brain-based disorders, to make a definite diagnosis.  At this stage, the neurologist will order in EEG, a test that measures the electrical activity of the brain. It is a painless, non-invasive procedure performed while the patient sleeps.   An abnormal EEG combined with deteriorating language skills may indicate Landau-Kleffner Syndrome.

Some people tend to confuse Landau-Kleffner Syndrome with Autism Spectrum Disorder, usually with high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome.  One important distinction between them is that Asperger’s patients tend to develop language only slowly or not at all. Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients, on the other hand, have language skills that are appropriate for standard and development levels until  the disorder begins.

Asperger’s patients often do not engage in social behaviors in the classroom and fail to make eye contact with people trying to communicate with them.  However, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome patients exhibit normal social interactions until the onset of the condition.  Then, frustration may cause them to avoid social situations. They may engage in repetitive, solo play to avoid the embarrassment of no longer being able to function as they once did.

Pediatric epilepsy specialist James Riviello, MD, has observed that patients with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome   “are trying to understand what you say, or trying to become engaged or involved in their environment.”

If a diagnosis of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is confirmed, treatments may include medications, diet, and speech and behavioral therapy.  Patients with this rare but manageable disorder can have a good long term outcome, and seizure activity generally disappears during the teenage years.

What Is Landau Kleffner Syndrome?

Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is a disorder of the brain that is often misdiagnosed and misunderstood.  Its symptoms can be quite mild at first, often being mistaken for a child not paying attention or not hearing well.  It can even appear to mimic high functioning Asperger’s syndrome.

The major symptoms of the condition are the loss of the ability to recognize or respond to language coupled with an abnormal brainwave pattern which can only be detected by a medical test called an EEG.  The EEG must be given during sleep to confirm the diagnosis of this very rare condition.

The first symptoms of Landau Kleffner Syndrome occur usually between the ages of 3 and 7.  Most children who begin developing the condition seem to be missing small bits of speech in home or educational settings.  The loss of hearing take place suddenly or over time, but in most cases it goes hand in hand with a marked decrease in the ability to use language.

Children who have been speaking and responding in appropriate ways for their ages may lose the ability to speak in sentences, be unable to say a word they already know, make up nonsense words to complete their ideas or rely on people around them to fill in the silences.

A secondary and sometimes invisible symptom of Landau Kleffner Syndrome is seizure activity in the brain.  The types of seizures vary widely among patients and can appear to simply be a brief loss of concentration or an obvious seizure marked by tense muscles, odd posture and lack of muscle control.

If Landau Kleffner Syndrome is suspected, a physician will order a procedure called an EEG in which small electrodes are attached to the patient’s scalp to measure the brain’s activity during sleep.  It is a painless, non-invasive procedure and is necessary to confirm or rule out the diagnosis. Most of these seizures in children eventually diagnosed with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome disappear by the age of 15 or 16.

Treating the disorder is not particularly easy.  Anti-seizure drugs are often used to quiet the electrical activity within the brain and corticosteroids show some effectiveness in helping patients regain their language abilities. The doses on each of these kinds of medications must be constantly monitored, however, as many people build up a kind of resistance to them.  Intravenous medications can be given and show some promise for patients who do not respond to other medications.

Surgery may be considered, however, many physicians still see this approach as experimental.  Some in the Landau-Kleffner Syndrome community are following a recommended diet from the Epilepsy Foundation.  The diet uses an Atkins-like approach with a much higher fat-to-nonfat ratio.  Though the diet does reduce seizures in epileptics, it has not yet proven to be effective for treating seizures associated with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome.

Because it is such a rare syndrome, the long-term outlook for patients diagnosed with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome is difficult to predict.  Many patients regain some or most of their language abilities, but the younger the patient was when language loss began, the less they regain as they grow.  A five-year follow-up study of nine patients revealed that all of them attended mainstream schools and many enrolled in college or technical school.  With proper treatment, patients with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome can do well!

Landau Kleffner Syndrome Dot Com Welcomes You To Our Site, Where We Contain Some Of The Most Authoritative Information On The Topic Of Landau Kleffner Syndrome. We Will Have New Posts Coming Shortly…