Step 1: Recognise the condition. Rheumatic (Sydenham) chorea is a major manifestation of acute rheumatic fever, an abnormal immune response to group A streptococcal infection, causing rapid uncoordinated jerking of the face, hands, and feet.
Step 2: Note that chorea responds poorly to antirheumatic agents, so management is symptomatic. The drugs used include anticonvulsants such as valproate and carbamazepine and neuroleptics such as haloperidol, pimozide, and risperidone.
Step 3: For resistant or troublesome chorea, sodium valproate is favoured as the drug of choice because it is effective and better tolerated than neuroleptics in children. This makes valproate (option a) correct.
Step 4: Why the distractors are wrong: haloperidol and diazepam are second-line symptomatic options, and probenecid is a uricosuric agent for gout with no role in chorea.