3 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
This project examines how seizures, and abnormal brain activity, affect language skill in children with Benign Childhood Epilepsy with Centro-Temporal Spikes (BECTS). BECTS is a common type of childhood epilepsy, and while BECTS patients stop having seizures by their late teenage years, many studies have shown that these children have language problems that may lead to academic and social difficulties. Using standardized language testing, monitoring of brain activity, and MRI brain imaging, this project aims to determine what particular combination of BECTS symptoms put children most at risk for language problems and whether treatment with anti-epileptic medications may be helpful.
The purpose of this study is to determine if having children listen to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448) will lessen the amount of spike discharges on his/her Electroencephalography (EEG). These spike discharges often occur during a 24 hour period in the EEG of a child with Benign Childhood Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (BCECTS), or Rolandic Epilepsy. Should there be a decrease in the amount of spike discharges after listening to Mozart's music, this information may lead to new understanding and possible treatments for epilepsy.
The investigators are recruiting children with Rolandic epilepsy and children without epilepsy (aged 4 years old and above) for a non-invasive brain imaging study using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetoencephalography/Electroencephalography (MEG/EEG), and experimental tasks. The investigators hope to determine the brain circuits and brain rhythms affected in these children and ultimately identify new treatment options for childhood epilepsy patients.