Asynchrony in the cognitive and lexical development of young children with Williams syndrome (original) (raw)
Related papers
Early categorization abilities in young children with Williams syndrome
Neuroreport, 2002
The present study investigated whether 2-to 6 -year-old children with Williams syndrome can form new object categories based on either visual or verbal information alone. Children were presented with six triads of objects. In each triad, two objects either shared visual properties, or were given the same name.Following the presentation of each triad, categorization based on the shared visual or verbal property was evaluated through object manipulation. While the children categorized the objects according to visual cues, they failed to use the verbal cues.These results contrast with previous research showing that typically developing toddlers, who were much younger than the children with WS and much less advanced in their vocabulary development, could perform both types of categorization. The present study hence supports the claim that vocabulary acquisition in Williams syndrome develops atypically.NeuroReport13:1^4 c 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Are 3-to-8-year-old children with Williams syndrome good word-learners?
NeuroReport, 2010
This study investigated the phonetic processing of new words in 3-to-8-year-old children with Williams syndrome (WS). Word-learning abilities were evaluated with a task involving the learning of two phonetically similar words for two different objects. Overall, children with WS were able to process fine phonetic details while establishing new word-object links. Their performance pattern was predicted by their mental age and was characterized by an asymmetrical processing of consonant and vowel information to the advantage of consonants found with this task in younger, typically developing, children. These results show delayed but relatively preserved word-learning abilities in WS, and this trajectory is discussed in comparison with typical development.
Cognitive, Lexical and Morpho-Syntactic Profiles of Israeli Children with Williams Syndrome
Cortex, 2003
This paper investigated the cognitive, lexical and morpho-syntactic profiles of schoolage Israeli children with confirmed diagnosis of Williams syndrome (WS). Children with retardation of unknown etiologies were individually matched to the children with WS. The findings suggest a cognitive profile that was similar to the profile reported for Englishspeaking children with WS, whose unique features were seen mainly in the discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ and in relatively preserved face recognition abilities (Frangiskakis et al., 1996; Mervis et al., 1999). Contrary to previous findings, cognitive, lexical and morpho-syntactic profiles of individual children were rather similar, confirming the findings that were based on matched-pairs comparisons.
The Development of Perceptual Grouping in Infants with Williams Syndrome
International Journal of Developmental Science, 2007
Perceptual grouping by luminance similarity and by proximity was investigated in infants with Williams syndrome (WS) aged between 6 and 36 months (visit 1, N=29). WS infants who were still under 36 months old, 8 months later, repeated the testing procedure (visit 2, N=15). Performance was compared to typically developing (TD) infants aged from 2 to 20 months (N=63). Consistent with the literature, TD participants showed grouping by luminance at the youngest testing age, 2 months. Grouping by proximity had not previous been charted in typical development: this study showed grouping by proximity at 8 months. Infants with WS could group by luminance. Developmental progression of the WS group showed some similarities to typical development, although further investigation is required to further address this in more depth. In contrast, infants with WS were not able to group by proximity. This pattern of emergence and development of grouping abilities is considered in relation to the pattern of grouping abilities observed in adults with WS.
Implicit Learning in Children and Adults With Williams Syndrome
Developmental Neuropsychology, 2003
In comparison to explicit learning, implicit learning is hypothesized to be a phylogenetically older form of learning that is important in early developmental processes (e.g., natural language acquisition, socialization) and relatively impervious to individual differences in age and IQ. We examined implicit learning in a group of children and adults (9-49 years of age) with Williams syndrome (WS) and in a comparison group of typically developing individuals matched for chronological age. Participants were tested in an artificial-grammar learning paradigm and in a rotor-pursuit task. For both groups, implicit learning was largely independent of age. Both groups showed evidence of implicit learning but the comparison group outperformed the WS group on both tasks. Performance advantages for the comparison group were no longer significant when group differences in working memory or nonverbal intelligence were held constant.
Procedural learning deficit in children with Williams syndrome
Neuropsychologia, 2001
The present study was aimed at evaluating implicit memory processes in subjects with Williams syndrome (WS) and comparing them to mental-age (MA) matched normal children. For this purpose, tests of verbal and visuo-perceptual explicit memory, verbal and visual repetition priming as well as procedural learning tasks were administered to 12 WS and 12 MA matched subjects. WS subjects showed a level of repetition priming similar to that of MA normal controls. In contrast, WS children showed a reduced learning rate in the two procedural tasks. Although deficient explicit memory and executive dysfunction cannot be excluded from the performance of WS subjects, these results suggest a specific deficit of procedural learning in this particular group of mentally retarded children. This finding is relevant for our knowledge about the qualitative aspects of the anomalous cognitive development in mentally retarded people and the neurobiological substrate underlying this development.
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 2010
Background: Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with relatively strong language abilities despite mild to moderate intellectual disability, particularly when language is indexed by vocabulary. Aims: The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to investigate whether reported lexical anomalies in WS can be explained with reference to anomalous semantic development; and (2) to assess whether receptive vocabulary skills in WS, a relative strength, are underpinned by commensurate semantic knowledge.