Seizures and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Seizures occur more frequently in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) than in other children. Many of the neurological syndromes and structural causes of epilepsy also lead to developmental challenges that fulfill criteria for ASD, and increasingly there is evidence of genetic abnormalities such as microdeletions and duplications that affect brain development and lead to both epilepsy and autism. Although doctors and researchers do not always understand why ASD and epilepsy co-occur, treatment aims to manage the overlapping cognitive, language, affective, social, and behavioral delays common to both disorders.