It is well established that some individuals with temporal
lobe epilepsy (TLE) demonstrate language deficits at the single
word level. However, discourse production rarely has been examined
quantitatively within this group. This study compared adult
TLE patients with an early seizure onset (≤ age 14 years,
n = 27) to a control group (n = 28) on narrative
and procedural discourse tasks. As a group, the TLE patients
performed normally on the procedural discourse task, but differed
significantly from the controls on several narrative discourse
variables. At the individual level, 30% of the TLE patients
versus 4% of the controls demonstrated impaired discourse
ability (p < .01). Within this early onset TLE group,
discourse performance was not associated with demographic or
seizure history variables. Considering the cognitive domain,
discourse performance correlated significantly with working
memory. In summary, mild discourse dysfunction was present in
a significant minority of early onset TLE patients, but this
deficit was not closely associated with other language measures.
Discourse ability and its neuropsychological, neuroanatomical
and conversational speech correlates deserve further study in
TLE patients. (JINS, 2003, 9, 733–739.)