Background Pediatric epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological illness in childhood and adolescence. Cognitive and psychosocial abnormalities are an important potential comorbidity of childhood epilepsy. Objective To determine the neurocognitive deficits associated with newly diagnosed childhood idiopathic epilepsy Design and METHODS: A case control study included 80 children between the ages of age 8 and 12. Forty children were with new onset epilepsy within the last 6 month and 40 healthy age and sex matched children as a control. All are attending regular schools. Children with idiopathic epilepsy were recruited from pediatric clinics at Suez Canal University and Ismailia Insurance Hospitals. All of Children with epilepsy had normal brain MRI, no developmental disabilities or other neurological disorder. Children were administered a comprehensive test battery that included measures of intelligence, language, immediate and delayed verbal memory, executive function and academic achievement. Results Neuropsychological performance had significant difference between the idiopathic epilepsy children and the healthy controls (p<0.04). Academic difficulties are evident in approximately 53% of the children with epilepsy. The most commonly occurring cognitive deficit was memory. Children with idiopathic epilepsy had significantly worse performance in immediate and delayed recall. Female gender and abnormal interictal EEG had a negative effect on neuropsychological performance. Conclusion: Neuropsychological abnormalities are frequent in children with newly diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy.