Music Skills and the Expressive Interpretation of Music in Children with Williams-Beuren Syndrome: Pitch,Rhythm, Melodic Imagery,Phrasing, and Musical Affect

This paper studied music in 14 children and adolescents with Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a multi-system neurodevelopmental disorder, and 14 age-matched controls. Five aspects of music were tested. There were two tests of core music domains, pitch discrimination and rhythm discrimination. There were two tests of musical expressiveness, melodic imagery and phrasing. There was one test of musical interpretation, the ability to identify the emotional resonance of a musical excerpt. Music scores were analyzed by means of logistic regressions that modeled outcome (higher or lower music scores) as a function of group membership (WBS or Control) and cognitive age. Compared to age peers, children with WBS had similar levels of musical expressiveness, but were less able to discriminate pitch and rhythm, or to attach a semantic interpretation to emotion in music. Music skill did not vary with cognitive age. Musical strength in individuals with WBS involves not so much formal analytic skill in pitch and rhythm discrimination as a strong engagement with music as a means of expression, play, and, perhaps, improvisation.     

Oral Reading Skills of Children with Oral Language (Word-Finding) Difficulties

We examined how children with and without oral language (word-finding) difficulties (WFD) perform on oral reading (OR) versus silent reading recognition (SRR) tasks when reading the same words and how lexical factors influenced OR accuracy, error patterns, and nature of miscues. Primary-grade students were administered an experimental reading measure. Words were controlled for lexical factors known to influence oral language, such as frequency, lexical neighborhood, familiarity, and phonotactic probability. For learners with WFD, SRR was superior to OR; lexical factors predicted OR success; WF error-patterns emerged in OR; and miscues were higher in frequency, more familiar, and from denser neighborhoods than targets.     

Music Training and Second-Language English Comprehension and Vocabulary Skills in Indian Children

This study examined the second-language (L2) English abilities of musically trained and untrained primary school children. Participants were tested on the verbal subscales of the Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC) and an English word-reading test. The musically trained participants performed significantly better on the tests of comprehension and vocabulary. This result is in line with the view that music and language share processing resources, as a result of which transfer of learning takes place. When the scores of participants with Indian Classical music training were compared with the scores of the untrained group, the comprehension and vocabulary advantage persisted, indicating that the L2 advantage was not simply an artefact of increased language familiarity that is likely to arise from Western music training.     

Global Spatial Organization by Individuals with Williams Syndrome

Williams syndrome is a genetically determined disorder with a characteristic cognitive profile. Overall IQ tends to be lower than in the normally developing population, performance on measures of linguistic ability is somewhat higher than would be expected given the levels of IQ typical for this group, and there is a particular weakness in visuospatial construction (e.g., block design tasks). A well-known hypothesis about the deficit in visuospatial construction is that people with Williams syndrome are strongly inclined to be local spatial processors. We report a test of this hypothesis that used a visual search task sensitive to spontaneous global spatial organization. A sample of adults with Williams syndrome produced a pattern of data demonstrating that they spontaneously organize spatial displays at a global level. Indeed, individuals with Williams syndrome found it more difficult to change from global to local processing than participants with normal intelligence. We suggest that the primary problem with visuospatial construction in people with Williams syndrome is not in the salience of single levels of organization but rather in the difficulty of changing between organizations.     

Language and communicative development in Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23, is associated with mild to moderate intellectual disability or learning difficulties. Most individuals with Williams syndrome evidence a cognitive profile including relative strengths in verbal short-term memory and language, and considerable weakness in visuospatial construction. The syndrome has often been argued to provide strong evidence for the independence of language from other aspects of cognition. We provide a brief history of early research on the language abilities of individuals with Williams syndrome and then review contemporary studies of language and cognition in Williams syndrome, beginning with a consideration of performance on standardized assessments. In the remainder of the article, we first consider early language acquisition, with a focus on speech production and perception, vocabulary acquisition, and communicative/pragmatic development and then consider the language abilities of school-age children and adolescents, focusing on semantics, grammar, and pragmatics. We argue that rather than being the paradigm case for the independence of language from cognition, Williams syndrome provides strong evidence of the interdependence of many aspects of language and cognition.     

Home Literacy Environment and English Language and Literacy Skills Among Chinese Young Children Who Learn English as a Second Language

The present study explored the home literacy environment for Chinese ESL kindergarteners and examined the relationships between home literacy practices and language and literacy skills. Ninety Hong Kong Chinese ESL kindergarteners were assessed for English vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and word reading. Their parents completed a questionnaire about home literacy practices. Results showed that these practices can be classified into three aspects: shared reading, exposure to English materials and home teaching. Shared reading uniquely predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary, syllable awareness and word reading in English. Exposure to English materials predicted expressive vocabulary and home teaching predicted letter knowledge.     

Characterizing the musical phenotype in individuals with Williams Syndrome.

Williams Syndrome (WS), a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder, is characterized by peaks and valleys in mental function: substantial impairments in cognitive domains such as reasoning, arithmetic ability, and spatial cognition, alongside relatively preserved skills in social domains, face processing, language, and music. We report the results of a comprehensive survey on musical behaviors and background administered to the largest sample of individuals with WS to date (n = 118, mean age = 20.4), and compare the results to those obtained from a control group of typically developing normal individuals (n = 118, mean age = 20.9) and two groups of individuals with other neurodevelopmental genetic disorders, Autism (n = 30, mean age = 18.2) and Down Syndrome (n = 40, mean age = 17.2). Individuals with WS were found to be rated higher in musical accomplishment, engagement, and interest than either of the comparison groups, and equivalent on most measures to the control group. Compared to all other groups including the controls, the WS individuals displayed greater emotional responses to music, manifested interest in music at an earlier age, and spent more hours per week listening to music. In addition, the effects of music listening (whether positive or negative) tended to last longer in the WS group. A factor analysis extracted seven principal components that characterize the musical phenotype in our sample, and discriminant function analysis of those factors was able to successfully predict group membership for the majority of cases. We discuss the neurobiological implications of these findings.     

留守学前儿童接受性语言能力与社会退缩的关系:有调节的中介模型

为探讨留守学前儿童接受性语言能力与社会退缩的关系及其内部机制,采用教师评定问卷和测量法对484名留守学前儿童进行调查。结果表明：（1）接受性语言能力不仅对社会退缩具有显著负向预测作用,也能通过执行功能的中介作用负向预测社会退缩;（2）执行功能的中介作用受到师幼关系的调节,相对于高师幼关系水平的个体,间接效应在低师幼关系水平的个体中更为显著,具体而言,师幼关系调节了中介的后半路径;（3）此外,在高师幼关系水平的个体中,执行功能对社会退缩的负向预测作用以及执行功能在接受性语言能力与社会退缩之间的中介作用都不显著。研究结果有助于揭示接受性语言能力对社会退缩的影响及其内在作用机制,对留守学前儿童社会退缩的预防及干预具有一定的启示意义。     

Working Memory and Cognitive Skills in Individuals with Down Syndrome

This work is aimed at analyzing working memory (WM) components and their relationships with other cognitive processes in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Particular attention is given to examine whether a verbal WM deficit is due to difficulties in verbal abilities often showed by individuals with DS, or whether it is a deficit per se. A group of 20 individuals with DS was compared to a group of 20 typically developing (TD) children matched on vocabulary comprehension and to a group of 20 TD children matched on general verbal intelligence. The groups received a battery of 3 verbal and 3 visuospatial WM tasks requiring different degrees of control, and tests assessing verbal abilities (WPPSI verbal scale, PPVT), nonverbal skills (WPPSI performance scale), and logical thinking (LO). The results revealed that individuals with DS have deficits in both central executive (control) and verbal components of the WM system, and the latter one is independent of the general verbal abilities deficit. The data suggest that the development of central executive proceeds at a slower rate in individuals with DS and differently from TD children with comparable verbal abilities. The performance of individuals with DS on high-control WM tasks requires additional general resources that are strictly linked to intelligence.     

Orientation perception in Williams Syndrome: Discrimination and integration

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder, which stems from a genetic deletion on chromosome 7 and causes a profound weakness in visuospatial cognition. Our current study explores how orientation perception may contribute to the visuospatial deficits in WS. In Experiment 1, we found that WS individuals and normal 3–4 year olds had similar orientation discrimination thresholds and had similar prevalence of mirror-reversal errors for diagonal targets (±45 deg). In Experiment 2, we asked whether this immaturity in orientation discrimination would also be reflected in a task requiring integration of oriented elements. We found that sensitivities of WS individuals for detecting orientation-defined contours were higher than sensitivities of normal 3–4 year olds, and were not significantly different from sensitivities of normal adults. Together, these results suggest that orientation discrimination and orientation integration have different maturational trajectories in normal development and different susceptibilities to damage in WS. These may reflect largely separate visuospatial mechanisms.     

Latent Semantic Analysis Discriminates Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) from Children with Typical Language Development

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Computer based analyses offer a possibility for objective methods to assess semantic-linguistic quality of narratives at the text level. The aim of the...     

Variability and standardized test profiles in typically developing children and children with Williams Syndrome

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a developmental disorder, which due to its specific cognitive profile, has been of interest to multidisciplinary research in order to study the pathways between cognition, brain, and genes. Previous studies investigating individual performance on cognitive tasks have reported large variability within the WS cognitive profile, which has encouraged the investigation of WS subgroups. The current study compared the variability in performance scores on five verbal and non‐verbal standardized tests in 33 children with WS and in 33 typically developing (TD) children of a similar chronological age (CA). In contrast to previous studies, the current study did not find significant differences in variability in performance on British Picture Vocabulary scale, Test Reception of Grammar and Digit span Forward between WS and TD groups when CA was controlled for. However, there was significantly less variability in younger WS participants for performance scores on Pattern Construction compared to the TD group. In light of these results, methodological issues and the importance of taking CA into account in analyses will be discussed.     

Perception and Perceptual-Motor Processes in Children with Down's Syndrome

Some controversy exists regarding visual discrimination of form and its execution. The hypothesis that an inability to reproduce a display is not necessarily an indication that the display has been incorrectly perceived was examined in 34 mongol children (15 male, 19 female, mean CA 11.9 years) matched for MA with a control group of 25 normal children (10 male, 15 female, mean CA 4.2 years). Fifteen mongol children (six male and nine female) were identified who revealed perceptual deficits on block construction tests, and experimental work was conducted to determine the extent and nature of this impairment. The construction tests consisted of various displays made from five equal sized blocks. This was followed by an identification test consisting of two dimensional representations of the block designs printed on cards. All 15 mongol children were able to recognize and identify correctly a display from a selection which corresponded to a stimulus display, and 11 were able to go further and recognize a two dimensional representation of the stimulus. There was no significant difference between males and females. The experimental work reported here supports the hypothesis.     

Adapting Basic Skills to Counsel Children

The purpose of this article is to help counselors modify basic adult interviewing skills, often the focus of the skill development component in counselor education programs, for more effective application with elementary-age children. In particular, 4 specific areas regarding counseling skills are presented: (a) establishing the appropriate physical environment, (b) building trust, (c) maintaining the counselor's facilitative attitude, and (d) using questions appropriately. Recommendations on how these skills can be modified are also discussed.     

汉语语音型阅读障碍儿童的范畴知觉技能

选取汉语中存在语音意识缺陷的阅读障碍儿童、正常儿童和成人各25名为被试,考察了语音型阅读障碍儿童是否存在言语知觉缺陷.言语知觉任务采用范畴知觉范式,要求被试识别合成或自然的语音范畴连续体.结果发现语音型阅读障碍儿童识别合成和自然的刺激都表现出范畴知觉缺陷,对范畴内刺激的识别缺少一致性;个体分析表明大部分语音型阅读障碍儿童有较低的识别函数斜率;回归分析表明言语知觉技能通过语音意识的中介作用于阅读能力的发展.     

Stress and Well-Being Among Parents of Children with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome

Potocki-Lupski syndrome (PTLS) or duplication 17p11.2 syndrome is a newly characterized condition causing a variety of health problems with variable severity, including failure to thrive in infancy and childhood, hypotonia, structural heart anomalies, cognitive impairments, speech and learning difficulties, and autism. Due to its recent clinical characterization little is known about the psychosocial impact of this condition on patients and their families. This study evaluated whether parental psychosocial outcomes were associated with children’s PTLS disease severity. Parents of 58 children with PTLS completed a cross-sectional survey that assessed parental stress, quality of life, and coping skills. Parental functioning was associated with greater severity of feeding difficulty and with lower severity of a cardiovascular defect. Findings from this study highlight potential support needs of parents of children affected by PTLS and suggest ways in which these needs may be addressed.     

学习障碍儿童社会技能缺失成因假说

研究者一直试图探讨学习障碍与社会技能缺失之间的联系,从而揭示导致学习障碍儿童社会技能缺失的原因。这一研究领域出现了四种假说：因果假说、共存假说、相关假说和同病率假说。