Epilepsy and language delay

[Patricia Schneider-Zioga]

I wonder if anyone could help me with some information. My 31 mo. old
nephew has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. His productive language
is very low (he failed all the productive language tests they gave him)
but his receptive language is very good. The neurologists said that the
seizures are all "trying to come from the left temporal lobe." 

My first question is can anyone help us with literature or other
information? (My nephew and his mom live in St. Paul Minnesota.) 

I also have a question about why his productive langauge should be so
affected but not his receptive language. I'd guess that seizures in the
left temporal lobe mean Wernicke's area- not Broca's area. In terms of
productive language, until my nephew was put on medication (dilantin
initially) he could barely make syllable-like sounds. Although
occasionally he would say whole words and then never repeat them- he could
never spontanteously repeat except for the sound /a/ while singing.
He never babbled. (It was impossible to break down my sister's
denial that he had a problem with his language acquisition until he had
fall-down seizures). Within hours of being on dilantin, he was babbling
and making syllable like sounds. (Before that, his vocalizations sounded
like grunting.) He still often cannot spontaneously
imitate what other people say, but sometimes he can. Within 3 weeks he has
started to say the word "yellow" and "I want that (=dat)" "that (=dat)"
and all sorts of vocalizations with the sound /o/ in them. As well as /no/
for "no" and "yeah" for "yes" and da-da for goodbye. 
The language intervention team wants to teach him sign (I'm not sure if
they mean ASL or exact signed English or something similar) as well as
work on his english. Do you have
any thoughts on this course of intervention? 

Any help you could give us would be deeply appreciated.

Sincerely, Patricia Schneider-Zioga