Background: Children and adults with neurotypical development employ linguistic information to predict and anticipate information. Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have weaknesses in language production and the domain of grammar but relative strengths in language comprehension and the domain of semantics. What is not clear is the extent to…

This study investigated the development of novel metaphor and metonymy comprehension in both typically developing (TD) children and individuals with Williams syndrome (WS). Thirty-one TD children between the ages of 3;09 and 17;01 and thirty-four individuals with WS between the ages of 7;01 and 44 years old were administered a newly developed task…

Previous research into face processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has revealed atypical biases toward particular facial information during identity recognition. Specifically, a focus on features (or high spatial frequencies [HSFs]) has been reported for both face and nonface processing in ASD. The current study investigated the development…

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) tend to have impaired verbal short-term memory (STM), which persists even when visual support is provided for carrying out verbal tasks. Objective: The current study aims to investigate whether visuospatial support, rather than just visual, can compensate for verbal STM deficits in these individuals. The…

The present study examined narrative development in children and adolescents with Down syndrome longitudinally. Narratives were collected from 32 children and adolescents with Down syndrome three times over a 1-year period. Both micro- and macrolevel analyses were conducted. Significant growth over the 1-year period was seen in semantic complexity…

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are poorer than controls in spatial-simultaneous tasks, but not in spatial-sequential tasks. To explain this finding, it has been suggested that the simultaneous visuo-spatial working memory deficit of individuals with DS could be due to the request for…

Background: The present work is aimed at analysing executive function (EF) in adolescents with Down Syndrome (DS). So far, EF has been analysed mainly in adults with DS, showing a pattern of impairment. However, less is known about children and adolescents with this syndrome. Studying adolescents with DS might help us better understand whether…

Daily living skills (DLS), such as personal hygiene, meal preparation, and money management, are important to independent living. Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibit impairments in daily living skills relative to their cognitive skills. This study examined predictors of daily living skills attainment and…

This study investigates word reading skill in Down Syndrome (DS). Two main questions are addressed: (1) Is reading an island of ability in DS? and (2) What are the cognitive correlates of word reading ability in DS? In particular, how do language versus visual-spatial skills relate to individual differences in reading ability in DS? Participants…

The aim of our study was to compare two neurodevelopmental disorders (Williams syndrome and autism) in terms of the ability to recognize emotional and nonemotional facial expressions. The comparison of these two disorders is particularly relevant to the investigation of face processing and should contribute to a better understanding of social…

Background: It is recognized that individuals with Down's syndrome have a specific deficit in verbal short-term memory. On the other hand, non-verbal short-term memory seems to be preserved or even be a strong point for these persons. Nevertheless, the extent and specificity of the deficit must be determined. To do so, we carried out a research…

We used neuropsychological tasks to investigate integrity of brain circuits linking orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala (orbitofrontal-amygdala), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus (dorsolateral prefrontal-hippocampus), in 138 individuals aged 7-18 years, with and without autism. We predicted that performance on…

Examined the nature of repetitive, ritualistic, and compulsive-like behaviors in typically developing and children and individuals with Down Syndrome (DS), matched on mental age (MA). Found that that both groups showed similar MA-related changes in compulsive-like behaviors. Younger children showed more compulsive-like behaviors than older.…

Since early research had shown that a total score on 27 Piagetian tasks was very highly correlated with a Wechsler and achievement composite, a study investigated the possibility of shortening the Piagetian test by means of classical analysis methodology. (HOD)

Forty children with mental retardation were compared on everyday leisure-time behaviors with children without mental retardation matched for mental age (MA) or chronological age (CA). Although MA best predicted overall functioning on leisure-time behavior, CA best predicted both single highest behavior performed and highest behavior considered too…