Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders of Epileptic Origin in Children. Thierry Deonna and Eliane Roulet-Perez. (Eds.). 2005. MacKeith Press, distributed by Cambridge University Press, 256 pp., £50.00; $90.00 HB.

Understanding the effects of epilepsy, a neurological disorder frequently beginning in childhood, is particularly important because it may disrupt the development of foundations for later cognitive and psychological functions. Despite the prevalence of seizure disorders and the importance of the developmental period in which seizures frequently begin, surprisingly little information about the effects of seizures with respect to cognitive and behavioral functioning is available. Moreover, understanding of the complex interactions between the pathological processes (bioelectric disturbance, neuropathology) and developmental, environmental, and psychological variables that contribute to the overall clinical picture is limited. In Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders of Epileptic Origin in Children, Thierry Deonna and Eliane Roulet-Perez take a unique approach to beginning to untangle these variables, drawing on their extensive clinical experience to present a series of cases that illustrate how seizures influence development.