Language Development and Disorders Laboratory (LaDD)
Current Research Themes
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Current research themes
- Lexicon and early grammar in typically developing children and in children at risk for language
- Neuropsychological profiles in children with cognitive delay
- Language, cognition and education in deaf children
- Assessment of early development of communication and language
- Clinical phonology
Neuropsychological profiles in children with cognitive delay
The scientific debate in developmental neuropsychology regarding the relationship between language and cognition has received, in the last decade, new evidence from studies conducted in special populations. Important claims have been made regarding the contrasting profiles of linguistic and cognitive performance observed in two genetically based syndromes, Williams Syndrome (WS) and Down Syndrome (DS). Earlier studies suggested a double dissociation, with language better preserved than non-verbal cognition in children and adults with WS, and an opposite profile in children and adults with DS.
Our recent studies, according with the results achieved from other research groups, showed that this initial characterization was too simple, and that qualitatively different patterns of deficit are observed within both language and cognition in both groups. More recently we also analyzed children with WS and with DS at different developmental stages and we suggested that the profiles of strengths and impairments that distinguish people with WS and people with DS continue to change well beyond infancy, with some strengths emerging in late childhood and adolescence, while other differences are more pronounced at the early stages and flatten out later on. We may conclude that cognitive phenotypes are not stable over time in individuals with WS or DS, and one cannot reliably predict the middle or adult states of the system from the profiles observed in the earliest stages of development.
A two-year project (2003-2004) funded by a grant of the Ministero della Salute "Un nuovo modello di assistenza e intervento per pazienti con sindrome di Williams" is aimed to develop a new integrated model of assistance and rehabilitation for individuals with Williams syndrome. The project is carried on in collaboration with the Nous Group, the ASL 8 Regione Sardegna, and the Association of families with children with WS (AISW)
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