Twenty-four children (aged 7-16 years) with seizure disorders (SD) were compared to 30 children with diabetes mellitus (DB) and 30 children with no chronic illness. Using a variety of assessment devices, the children were compared on intelligence, academic achievement, attention, memory, perceived competence, and parents' perceptions of child and family functioning. The seizure disorder children scored lower than the other groups on intelligence, reading comprehension, mathematics, cognitive and social competence, and had more school problems (e.g., problems making friends and need for remedial education). On the attention task, SD children performed less well than the others on recall of task-relevant information, while DB children scored higher than the other groups on incidental recall. On the memory task, both the SD and DB children had less effective recall than the control group. Parents' reports showed significant differences on family environment, though all scores were within the normal range. Children's reports of self-esteem and competencies were also all within the normal ranges. (JDD)