The Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (LKS) is characterized
by acquired receptive aphasia and EEG abnormality with
onset between the ages of 3 and 8 years. This study presents
neuropsychological assessments in 5 children with LKS.
The aims were (1) to specify the neuropsychological deficits
characteristic of these children; and (2) to clarify the
nature of the receptive aphasia by comparing nonverbal
and verbal auditory discrimination. Receptive aphasia was
present in all children. Retardation, poor motor coordination,
hyperkinesia, and conduct problems were frequent but variable.
All children exhibited a dissociation between the discrimination
of environmental sounds and phonological auditory discrimination,
the latter being more impaired than the former. This suggests
that the primary deficit of the receptive aphasia is an
impairment of auditory phonological discrimination rather
than a generalized auditory agnosia. (JINS, 1998,
4, 566–575.)