Disabilità complessa: quali risposte alle domande terapeutiche riabilitative, educative e formative nei contesti del territorio e dei centri specializzati

Effects of school-based interventions on motivation towards physical activity in children and adolescents: Protocol for a systematic review

Background Recent studies have observed low levels of physical activity in children and adolescents worldwide. Physical activity interventions are increasingly carried out to counteract this development. The school environment is an ideal setting for such interventions to take place as large numbers of children and adolescents can be addressed. With the assumption that motivation is the key to initiate and sustain beneficial health behaviors, theory-based intervention studies apply motivational strategies to increase students’ participation in physical activity. The main objective of this systematic review will be to analyze the effects of school-based physical activity interventions on a v…

Effects of school-based interventions on motivation towards physical activity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Assuming that motivation is the key to initiate and sustain beneficial health behaviors, the aim of this systematic review was to analyze the effects of school-based physical activity interventions on a variety of motivational outcomes towards PA in school-aged children and adolescents. Methods A comprehensive literature search was carried out in six electronic databases to identify randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental trials examining the effects of PA interventions implemented during the regular school day, e.g., during physical education lessons or lunch breaks. Primary outcomes of interest were students' motivation, basic psychological needs, goal orientation…

Predictors of risk of learning disabilities

Involves all the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are presumed to be precursors of the development of conventional forms of reading and writing (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 1998). It been traced a continuity of development between the first emergent literacy skills, starting from kindergarten, and early reading skills (Phillips BM et al). Children who have difficulty in the early stages of learning to read is very likely continue to present both in later school years further failures in this area (Cornoldi,Tressoldi, 2007) triggered a negative spiral and problematic process (Tressoldi e Vio, 1996). There are numerous empirical confirmation of the importance of early identification of diffic…

Sleep phenotypes of intellectual disability: a polysomnographic evaluation in subjects with Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome

Abstract Objective To analyze sleep architecture and NREM sleep alterations by means of the Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP) in children with Down syndrome (DS) and Fragile-X syndrome (fraX), the two most common causes of inherited mental retardation, in order to find out eventual alterations of their sleep microstructure related to their mental retardation phenotypes. Methods Fourteen patients affected by fraX (mean age 13.1 years) and 9 affected by Down syndrome (mean age 13.8 years) and 26 age-matched normal controls were included. All subjects underwent overnight polysomnography in the sleep laboratory, after one adaptation night and their sleep architecture and CAP were visually scored…

Down Syndrome and Referential Communication: Understanding and Production

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the ability of referential communication in subjects with Down Syndrome (DS). We evaluated the possibility that the referential communication is the result of a set of cognitive factors, verbal and nonverbal through the evaluation of relationship between cognitive abilities in individuals with DS and typically developing. In particular, we have identified some critical dimensions of communicative function, such as the referential communication, which means the subject's ability to produce o the listener or messages “referentially oriented”, ie messages that are characterized by “clarity or ambiguity referential”. The referential communication skills, in…

Abilità di apprendimento di lettura e scrittura in bambini in età prescolare e predittori di rischio

The years from birth through age 5 are a critical time for children’s development and learning. Early childhood educators understand that at home and in early childhood education settings, young children learn important skills that can provide them with the cornerstones needed for the development of later academic skills. These patterns of learning in preschool are closely linked to later achievement: children who develop more skills in the preschool years perform better in the primary grades. The development of early skills appears to be particularly important in the area of literacy. It is estimated that more than a third of all graders (and an even higher percentage of our at-risk studen…

Sport Intervention Programs (SIPs) to Improve Health and Social Inclusion in People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review.

Inactivity is a major issue that causes physical and psychological health problems, especially in people with intellectual disability (ID). This review discusses the beneficial effects of sport intervention programs (SIPs) in people with ID, and aims to provide an overview of the scientific literature in order to identify the main factors influencing the participation of people with ID in SIPs. Twelve papers were analyzed and compared. The results show a large variety in examined SIPs, concerning participants’ age and disability, intervention characteristics and context, as well as measures and findings. The main factors essential for people with ID partaking in SIPs appeared to be suitabl…

Metacognitive and cognitive factors underlying the understanding of the text

Reading comprehension, the construction of meaning from text is generally considered one of the most central cognitive skills children acquire during their school career. (Carreiras & Clifton, 2004; Mason, 2004; Ritchey, 2011; van den Broek, 2010). The research reported was designed to investigate the critical role played by certain factors implicated in the mental representation of text and to establish how their role varies as a function of developmental age. It would thus seem that inferential processing is powerfully influenced both by metacognitive and structural factors which can play a role during text comprehension. This research has focused in particular on two specific aspects of …

REFERENTIAL COMUNICATION SKILL IN CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate the Referential Communication skill in children with Down Syndrome (DS). In particular in this research, we have studied the development of pragmatic language in relation to non-verbal skills. It’s analyzed the Referential Communication skills in children with DS, both in production and comprehension of referential messages: oriented and / or ambiguous , adequate (appropriate) and inadequate (inappropriate) METHODS: The participants in this research are a total of 24 children: 12 children with DS and 12 children with typical development (TD) (control group). The mean age children with DS is 7 years and 8 months and the mean age children wi…

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFERENTIAL PROCESSING AND TEXT PROCESSING: A DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY

The research reported here was designed to investigate the critical role played by certain factors implicated in the mental representation of text, and to establish whether their role varies significantly as a function of developmental age. Specifically, it was decided to analyse, in a sample of 180 subjects was selected from three different age groups (7, 10 and 18 years of age respectively), the role of such factors in mediating and influencing the generation of the inferences needed to understand a piece of text characterised by a sequence of information which flows in a logical order, but leads to a conclusion which is contrary to the expectations evoked by the text. In line with this o…

Disabilità visiva e neuroni specchio

Il seguente lavoro ha come obiettivo quello indagare, il possibile coinvolgimento del sistema dei neuroni specchio nella disabilità visiva, cercando di analizzare, in particolare, come il soggetto non vedente possa comprendere e conoscere l’azione degli altri privato dal corpus di informazioni provenienti dal canale visivo. L’ipotesi da verificare è se nei soggetti con disabilità visiva e nei soggetti con sviluppo tipico venga messo in gioco e con quale modalità, lo stesso sistema di neuroni specchio unitario (visivo-uditivo) per il riconoscimento dell’azione. Inoltre, lo studio dovrebbe consentire di verificare se la disabilità visiva ad esordio precoce (congenita) è in grado di aumentare …

Linguistic Prosody and Comprehension of Idioms and Proverbs in Subjects of School Age

Abstract A crucial component of language is represented by the prosodic system because it provides essential elements to speaker about how a sentence should be interpreted or intended (Fodor, 2002). Increasing interest from researchers also relates to the understanding of figurative language (Levorato, & Cacciari, 2002). In the figures of speech that the speaker wants the listener intends something more or different than what is explicitly stated (Glucksberg, 2001). In particular, prosodic intonation is crucial in the resolution of syntactic ambiguity and structural features that constitute the complex messages, such as idioms and proverbs. A crucial component of language, therefore, is rep…

FARE INFERENZE Storie e attività per potenziare la comprensione del testo

Attualmente, la tematica relativa ai processi inferenziali costituisce un ampio e interessante filone di ricerca in cui convergono i contributi della scienza cognitiva e della linguistica testuale. Poiché difficoltà nell’attivazione di processi inferenziali sottesi alla comprensione del testo possono connotarsi quali significativi predittori di varie problematiche nell’ambito dell’apprendimento scolastico, diviene sempre più urgente l’individuazione di tutti i fattori capaci di inibire o favorire l’attivazione di inferenze, siano esse lessicali, quando riguardano il significato di una parola sconosciuta ma deducibile dal contesto, oppure semantiche se, invece, riguardano il significato di i…

Comprensione prosodica e comprensione di modi di dire e proverbi in bambini di età pre-scolare: il ruolo del contesto socio culturale

L’acquisizione degli aspetti pragmatici del linguaggio comporta un processo costruttivo, di comprensione di codici non linguistici, che il bambino apprende attraverso l’interazione con il contesto socio culturale. Ne sono un esempio la comprensione prosodia e di modi dire e proverbi. La ricerca ha indagato la relazione tra comprensione prosodica e di modi di dire e proverbi, su due gruppi di bambini di 4 e 5 anni appartenenti a contesti socio-culturali diversi. Alla ricerca hanno partecipato 290 soggetti divisi in due gruppi di età: 150 bambini di 4 anni e 140 di 5 anni, equamente distribuiti per livello socio culturale. In concordanza alle nostre ipotesi, la correlazione tra le due compone…

Disabilità visiva e neuroni specchio: processi di apprendimento nello sviluppo atipico

Lo studio,verificherà: 1) che la modalità di codifica tra i soggetti non vedenti (acquisiti) e non vedenti (congeniti) segue dei circuiti neuronali differenti, ma che comunque coinvolgono il sistema dei neuroni specchio; 2) che l’attività dei neuroni specchio non è vincolata al solo input sensoriale della visione di un semplice movimento, ma ad un vero e proprio “vocabolario di atti” che il soggetto riconosce come dotati di significato e appartenenti alla propria esperienza soprattutto nel caso di una disabilità visiva acquisita (più grande e ricco è questo vocabolario di atti, più il soggetto è in grado di apprendere); 3) che comprendere l’effettivo significato di una frase, di un suono ch…

The analysis of the construct of literacy emerging in the construction of a “risk profile”

Learning the written language, is characterized by an evolutionary continuity that develops from an early acquisition phase, traditionally defined as "emergent literacy" (Pinto, 1993; Whitehurst and Loningan, 1998; Pepi, 2004). Learning the written language has its origins in the earliest stages of a child's life, before the start of formal literacy and involves all those skills (cognitive, metacognitive, language, short-memory term, etc.), knowledges and attitudes presumed to be precursors of the development of conventional reading and writing forms (Lonigan, et al, 2000). The current research shows the continuity of development between the first emergent literacy skills, starting from kin…

Comprensione prosodica e comprensione di modi di dire e proverbi: uno studio in soggetti di età scolare in situazioni di svantaggio socio-culturale

Le abilità di comprensione metalinguistica riguardano i processi cognitivi che consentono di riflettere sulla lingua e di manipolarne le caratteristiche. Tali capacità, indispensabili per riconoscere e risolvere le ambiguità di un messaggio complesso, permettono di controllare e pianificare il modo di produrre e comprendere il linguaggio. L'analisi dei processi implicati nel riconoscimento e risoluzione di ambiguità in un messaggio complesso, pone l'accento sulle abilità di controllare e pianificare la produzione e comprensione del linguaggio verbale, ma soprattutto sull’importanza della componente prosodica nella decodifica dell’informazione. Tale relazione è significativa ed è soggetta a …

DOWN SYNDROME AND REFERENTIAL COMMUNICATION:  UNDERSTANDING AND PRODUCTION

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) have a delay that affects the global motor development, cognitive, communicative and linguistic. From the literature shows that these subjects follow the same general line of language acquisition of children with typical development, although their language remains behind their non-verbal cognitive abilities and then proceed with a slower. In our study we have set ourselves the objective to investigate some critical dimensions of the communicative function in particular, referential communication, which means the subject's ability to produce messages "referentially oriented”, or messages that allow the listener to recognize the immediacy of contact with the …

Psicologi a scuola

Il lavoro è stato diretto su due versanti: monitoraggio attraverso uno screening nell’area linguistica e matematica di una classe I, al fine di predisporre un piano di intervento mirato ad indirizzare i docenti verso quelle che sono le potenzialità degli alunni con difficoltà; presa in carico di due casi singoli che la scuola riteneva particolarmente “problematici” al fine di effettuare una valutazione funzionale per mettere in luce i punti di forza e di debolezza su cui poter far operare i docenti a livello didattico. Entrambi i lavori hanno seguito un percorso di approfondimento dei possibili disturbi di apprendimento, anche se è necessario sottolineare che in un contesto dominato dallo s…

Comprensione del linguaggio figurato in bambini con Sindrome di Down

L’acquisizione degli aspetti pragmatici del linguaggio, nello sviluppo tipico, comporta un processo costruttivo, di comprensione di codici non linguistici, che il bambino apprende attraverso l’interazione con il contesto socio culturale. I bambini con Sindrome di Down (SD) presentano un ritardo globale che interessa lo sviluppo motorio, cognitivo, comunicativo e linguistico. La non corretta espressione dei geni nel cromosoma 21 determina una serie di alterazioni nello sviluppo neurofisiologico, somatico, motorio, cognitivo e linguistico che possono variare anche considerevolmente da individuo ad individuo. Dalla letteratura si evince che tali soggetti seguano la stessa linea generale di acq…

Comprensione prosodica e comprensione di modi di dire e proverbi in soggetti in età scolare

Una componente cruciale del linguaggio è rappresentata dal sistema prosodico poiché fornisce elementi essenziali al parlante su come un enunciato debba essere interpretato o inteso (Aglioti, 2009; Davidson, 2003). Crescente interesse da parte dei ricercatori riguarda, inoltre, la comprensione del linguaggio figurato (Benelli e Bellacchi, 2007). Nelle espressioni figurate il parlante vuole che l’ascoltatore intenda un qualcosa di più o di diverso rispetto a ciò che viene affermato esplicitamente. Ne sono un esempio le espressioni metaforiche (es. Anna è una perla), quelle ironiche e le espressioni idiomatiche (ad es. tagliare la corda). Le abilità di comprensione metalinguistica riguardano i…

Preliminary evaluation of a short version questionnaire for Executive Functioning Self-Report (EF-SR)

The aim of the present study is the development and the evaluation of preliminary psychometric characteristics of a short form self-report questionnaire to assess executive functioning (EF). The research was conducted in a sample of 316 Italian children that attended primary or secondary schools, with an age range between 7 and 11. EFA showed that Executive Functioning Self-Report (EF-SR) is composed of eleven items that are adequately represented by a single factor that characterizes the total score of the EFs. Furthermore, preliminary analyses showed an adequate level of skewness and kurtosis, of internal reliabilities, and test-retest reliability. Finally, the EF-SR showed positive moder…

Poor School Academic Performance and Benign Epilepsy with Centro-Temporal Spikes

Background: Poor academic performance of students with epilepsy seems to be a multifactorial problem related to difficulties in reading, writing, math, and logic skills. Poor school and academic performances refer to learning problems in a specific academic area due to learning disorders and learning difficulties not excluding the ability to learn in a different manner during school and academic life. Sometimes, school, academic difficulties, and Rolandic epilepsy can coexist together, and there may be comorbidities. Consequently, the risk of impaired academic performance in people with epilepsy is high. Methods: This review analyzed the relationship between Benign Epilepsy with Centro-Temp…