No lAUGHING MATTER: THE NEURoPSyCHoloGICAl PRoFIlE oF A CHIlD DIAGNoSED WITH HyPoTHAlAMIC HAMARToMA AND ACCoMPANyING GElASTIC SEIzURES

Impairments most commonly were noted in the intellectual, verbal and nonverbal memory and working memory domains, while visuospatial rotation skills were found to be the most robust. Results from Prigatano et al.’s (2004) study evaluating six children with hypothalamic hamartomas indicated significant difficulties with speech and language tasks. Deficits also were noted with learning and memory measures, while the visuospatial domain was found to be intact. Commensurate with these findings, results from Frattali et al.’s (2001) study of 13 children with hypothalamic hamartomas demonstrated variable abilities across most neurocognitive measures, with a relative strength emerging on visual processing tasks.