Academic achievement in school‐aged children with active epilepsy: A population‐based study

Summary Objective To provide population‐based data on the performance of school‐aged children with epilepsy on measures of academic achievement and factors associated with this performance after controlling for IQ. Methods Eighty‐five (74%) of 115 children with “active” epilepsy (experienced a seizure in the past year and/or on antiepileptic drugs [AEDs]) underwent psychological assessment including measures of IQ, aspects of working memory and processing speed. Sixty‐five of the 85 were able to complete subtests on the Wide Range Achievement Test–Fourth Edition (WRAT‐4). Paired sample t‐tests were conducted to compare subtest scores. Factors associated with academic performance after controlling for IQ were examined using linear regression. Results Seventy‐two percent of the children, who could complete subtests on the WRAT‐4, displayed “low achievement” (1 standard deviation [SD] below test mean) and 42% displayed “underachievement” (1 SD below assessed IQ) on at least one of the four WRAT‐4 subtests. The mean scores on the Math Computation subtest and Sentence Comprehension subtest were significantly lower than scores on the Word Reading (p