N Crespo-Eguilaz | PubMed Health

PubMed2006

[Subtypes of specific language impairment in Spanish-speaking children: a cluster analysis of linguistic features].

INTRODUCTION: Specific language impairment (SLI) can be viewed as a continuum with different subtypes depending on the combination of deficits and strengths in each of the components of linguistic behavior. AIM. To analyze the phenomenological profiles in a correlative series of Spanish children in order to facilitate their endophenotypic differentiation and the choice of strategies of intervention. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 86 referred children, aged 4 to 9 years, with a mean non-verbal intelligence quotient of 93 (range 72-114) and accomplishing clinical criteria of SLI. Apart from clinical interview and neurological examination, a protocol of questionnaires and tests was used in all subjects in order to measure their formal (phonological, syntactic, lexical) and functional (semantic and pragmatic) linguistic abilities. A cluster analysis of variables was used in order to investigate SLI subtypes. RESULTS: In the total sample, a 24% of whole series have a pure phonological expressive disorder. 55% of subjects have mixed receptive/expressive disorders; from these, the most pervasive subtype is due to verbal agnosia (11%), but more frequently observed subtypes affect syntax reception and expression combined to difficulties in phonological programming (36%) or in lexical retrieval (8%). Furthermore, 21% of the total sample present with difficulties in pragmatic use of language even if their formal linguistic abilities and non-verbal behavior are normal. CONCLUSIONS: Our empirical approach confirms that the admitted SLI subtypes in international literature applies to Spanish-speaking children for endophenotyping and intervention-planning purposes.

Child↗

PubMed2005

[Memory and attention in children with brain dysfunction].

INTRODUCTION: For conscious behaviours to continue, attention and working memory must be brought into play in order to match the data from the current reality with those in the long-term memory and to the sequential plans for adaptive action. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We present the preliminary findings of our study of 50 patients between 7 and 16 years of age, who were divided into three groups according to their dominant neurocognitive disorder: a 'pure' ADHD group, an ADHD/LD group (with comorbid learning disorder) and an RMEM (risk of memory disorder due to bilateral temporomesial damage) group. All of them were administered a battery of tests designed to evaluate attentional control and short and long-term memory. RESULTS: Verbal IQ was above 80 in all the participants, with no differences among the three groups. The ADHD/LD group had a manipulative IQ and level of sustained attention below those of the ADHD group, but no long-term memory deficit was observed in either of these two groups. In contrast, the RMEM group's performance was poorer in verbal memory tasks, although their behaviour is more attentive and stable compared to that of the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Neuropsychological analysis of these dissociations allows adjustments to be made in the strategies for therapeutic interventions. Performance in long-term learning in children with ADHD and ADHD/LD can be improved with psychostimulants owing to the activating effect they have on working memory.

Humans↗