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The purpose of the book is to present the GAIRS (Global Assessment and Intervention in Rett Syndrome) Checklist, an easy-to-use, short and accessible tool for every health-care professional in order to assess all the abilities of Rett girls but also to identify patients needing next-step evaluation and treatment. Thanks to the hierarchical order of all the targets assessed in each area of the GAIRS, this checklist can be a useful instrument not only for assessment but also for intervention.

The purpose of the book is to present the GAIRS (Global Assessment and Intervention in Rett Syndrome) Checklist, an easy-to-use, short and accessible tool for every health-care professional in order to assess all the abilities of Rett girls but also to identify patients needing next-step evaluation and treatment. Thanks to the hierarchical order of all the targets assessed in each area of the GAIRS, this checklist can be a useful instrument not only for assessment but also for intervention.

Premessa

Few studies investigated the effect of a structured and specific training for upper limb motor skills allowing complex movements such as reaching and grasping. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of motor training on attention, reaching skills and stereotypies in patients with Rett Syndrome (RTT). twenty‐eight participants with RTT underwent cognitive and motor assessment to evaluate attention, reaching skills and stereotypies with an ABABABA design: before training (pre‐test phase), after a month of training (post‐test phase 1), after a month of the second training phase (post‐test phase 2) and at one month after the third training phase (post‐test phase 3). In all three B phases, participants received 30 minutes of motor training for 5 days a week over a 1‐month period. patients with RTT show long‐term improvements in seconds of attention and reaching skills and decreases in the intensity of stereotypies. This study suggests that motor abilities of participants with RTT can be improved with repeated, individual, well‐structured training. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Background: Rett Syndrome is a severe, neurodevelopmental disorder mainly caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene, affecting around 1 in 10,000 female births. Severe physical, language, and social impairments impose a wide range of limitations in the assessment of the abilities of Rett patients. This study proposes an analysis and first validation of a Global Assessment and Intervention in Rett syndrome (GAIRS) Checklist for assessing behavioral, intellectual, academic, neuropsychological and psychosocial manifestations in patients with Rett Syndrome. We administered the GAIRS Checklist to 113 Italian patients with Rett Syndrome aged 4–42. Aims of this study: To examine the psychometric characteristics of the GAIRS Checklist. Moreover, the aim is also to examine the validity of GAIRS with test–retest correlation, convergent validity with similar functional measurements, such as the Vineland scales, and divergent validity with severity of disease scale, such as the RARS scale and severity of neuropsychiatric evaluations. Results: All 10 subscales of GAIRS were positively and significantly related to each other and to the total GAIRS score, and the subscales showed high levels of Cronbach’s alpha values (from.77 to.95). Principal axis factoring suggested two factors that explain 60% of the variance. Test–retest reliability is 0.82. This means that psychometric properties are reliable. Correlation for Concurrent validity with Vineland score was high and Divergent Validity with RARS was also high. Conclusion: The GAIRS Checklist used for Rett syndrome is acceptable and feasible to complete assessment in a clinical setting. Moreover, it can detect the complexity of this disease and may suggest the next step in terms of specific training in Rett syndrome.

The aim of this study is to compare the performances of patients with Rett syndrome that were undergoing advanced telerehabilitation (ATR) and patients that were undergoing basic telerehabilitation (BTR). It was hypothesized that patients that were undergoing ATR training would have better improvement in nearly all the motor and cognitive scale scoring activities that were administered, thus showing reduced disability. A total of 20 young girls and women with a diagnosis of RTT, ranging from age 4 to 31 years old (Median: 12.50; IQR: 9.50–17.25) underwent a pre-test, treatment post-test 1, treatment, and post-test 2 procedure. The treatment consisted of either ATR or BTR, lasting 10 weeks with three sessions a week of about an hour. The results showed that the group with advanced telerehabilitation improved their performance better than the control group only in some neuropsychological measurements. The results are discussed in the light of critical factors of telerehabilitation.

Background: The closure of all educational institutions and most rehabilitation centres represents a precautionary measure to face the COVID-19 pandemic, but the isolation and social distancing may be particularly challenging for children with special needs and disabilities (SEND), such as Rett Syndrome (RTT). The main aim of this study was to promote cognitive and social interactions among children with RTT through an interactive school program. Methods: The Interactive School palimpsest was composed of moments in which a teacher spoke directly to children with RTT and expected a response through eye gaze, and moments in which storeys-cartoon were presented while tracking the eye gaze of children. We investigated behavioural, social and cognitive parameters. Results: Children participated in both social and cognitive tasks with the spontaneous reduction of stereotypies and with increase in attention. They recalled more significant indexes when music or a song was presented together with a cartoon or a cognitive task. Conclusions: This study provides initial insights in promoting cognitive and social interactions and in the support needs of families with a child with RTT during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A review of studies conducted to test whether multimedia learning is beneficial or not for students with ADHD

We conducted a systematic review of telerehabilitation (TR) interventions on children and young adults with multiple disabilities (MDs). This review aimed to (a) examine the effectiveness of telerehabilitation (TR) on adaptive skills that have been targeted for intervention, (b) describe the type of devices used in the intervention procedures, (c) summarize the outcomes, and (d) examine the consumer/professional satisfaction of TR. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria. Results suggested that TR is an effective tool in improving the adaptive skills of children and young adults with MDs. Boh consumers and professionals reported high levels of satisfaction and acceptance of TR services. Trends across different types of devices implemented in TR programs are considered and recommendations are made for future research.

This book aims to present an overview of current research and dominant theories on human attention. It presents a comprehensive review of the current state of theories in the field, including the measurement and neuropsychology of attention. It also discusses the relationship between attention and new media. The title of this book includes the word "today," because the authors sought to address recent trends and potential future directions in the field of human attention. This book is organized into four chapters. The first chapter explores the theoretical models of attention from historical theories to current research. The second chapter analyses the measurements of attention, with particular reference to paradigms that have been used to study visual and auditory attention. The third chapter focuses on two aspects: the neural basis of attention and electrophysiology, distinguishing the different functions of attention. The last chapter considers the interactions between attention and new media, in particular, television, smartphones, computers, and video games. Both the novice and expert will be able to understand and learn much from reading this book. It is aimed at both students and researchers, as well as professionals in healthcare, education, social care, and related fields.

Review of current theories of attention

We tested the hypothesis that expectancy-violation is key to understanding those conditions under which instrumental music disrupts immediate serial-recall. Using isochronic presentation of irrelevant-sound stimuli during encoding and retention, recall was found to be impaired following both piano-note sequences (Experiment 1) and pure-tone sequences (Experiment 2). However, whereas intervallic organisation was determinant for pure-tones (randomly-ordered frequencies caused recall impairment while repeated frequency or ascending-frequency sequences did not) there was no effect of intervallic organisation of piano-note sequences. When the to-be-ignored sequences were presented with random anisochrony, the disruptive effect was absent for both piano notes (Experiment 3) and pure tones (Experiment 4). It is proposed that the irrelevant sound effect can be explained in terms of stimulus specific expectancy violation.

Relationships between phenotype and genotype in Rett syndrome were investigated

adhd

Il Test Vocale sugli Stati Mentali (TVSM), strumento innovativo nel panorama italiano, è una prova di valutazione della teoria della mente in bambini con sviluppo tipico da 7 a 11 anni. Esamina la comprensione di un’ampia gamma di stati mentali attraverso un particolare tipo di stimolo uditivo: la voce umana. Utile anche in caso di sviluppo atipico (ad esempio disturbi pervasivi dello sviluppo, disabilità visive, ecc.), indaga questo specifico aspetto della competenza mentalistica per ricavarne informazioni su carenze da colmare e abilità da sviluppare e rafforzare. Di facile somministrazione e rapida correzione, si articola in una prova di valutazione vera e propria — ascolto delle 20 frasi-stimolo del test che dovranno essere valutate inferendo lo stato mentale del parlante — e in una prova di controllo (che prevede di riconoscere il genere del parlante delle stesse tracce audio) È stato validato e standardizzato su un campione di 586 bambini di scuola primaria. Il TVSM è rivolto a psicologi, insegnanti, logopedisti per finalità cliniche, educative e di ricerca per approfondire nel bambino i temi della comprensione di stati motivazionali, emotivi ed epistemici e del ruolo che gli indici uditivi svolgono nell’informare sullo stato mentale del parlante nel processo comunicativo con i coetanei e gli adulti. Nel CD-ROM allegato: • Video di presentazione del TVSM • Stimoli uditivi • Schede di risposta/Griglie di correzione • Tabelle per la valutazione del punteggio • Glossario

Il Test Vocale sugli Stati Mentali (TVSM), strumento innovativo nel panorama italiano, è una prova di valutazione della teoria della mente in bambini con sviluppo tipico da 7 a 11 anni. Esamina la comprensione di un’ampia gamma di stati mentali attraverso un particolare tipo di stimolo uditivo: la voce umana. Utile anche in caso di sviluppo atipico (ad esempio disturbi pervasivi dello sviluppo, disabilità visive, ecc.), indaga questo specifico aspetto della competenza mentalistica per ricavarne informazioni su carenze da colmare e abilità da sviluppare e rafforzare. Di facile somministrazione e rapida correzione, si articola in una prova di valutazione vera e propria — ascolto delle 20 frasi-stimolo del test che dovranno essere valutate inferendo lo stato mentale del parlante — e in una prova di controllo (che prevede di riconoscere il genere del parlante delle stesse tracce audio) È stato validato e standardizzato su un campione di 586 bambini di scuola primaria. Il TVSM è rivolto a psicologi, insegnanti, logopedisti per finalità cliniche, educative e di ricerca per approfondire nel bambino i temi della comprensione di stati motivazionali, emotivi ed epistemici e del ruolo che gli indici uditivi svolgono nell’informare sullo stato mentale del parlante nel processo comunicativo con i coetanei e gli adulti. Nel CD-ROM allegato: • Video di presentazione del TVSM • Stimoli uditivi • Schede di risposta/Griglie di correzione • Tabelle per la valutazione del punteggio • Glossario

The aim of this research paper is to investigate Theory of Mind (ToM) capacities with Rett Syndrome (RS), which is similar to autism yet with more significant impairments. RS patients can best be described as hardly ever advancing past the sensorimotor stage, or the period described by Piaget between birth and eighteen months during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to sensory perceptions and motor activities with behaviours that consist of simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. Nevertheless, single-case studies have shown that RS patients can develop a mentalistic understanding of others if properly trained. To further advance this finding, non-trained RS female children completed a false belief task appositely devised with a non-verbal answering mode familiar to RS girls. Results show that RS girls are better on this type of false belief task than a control group of autistic children, whose deficit in ToM understanding is well-documented in literature. Our findings, though preliminary, may be a first step towards a better understanding of the differences between RS and autism in mental state reasoning, opening new topics of research and intervention in ToM with severe clinical conditions.

The goal of this clinical case study is to investigate the possibility of training communication abilities in people with Rett syndrome (RS). Usually, girls with RS never exceed the sensorimotor stage of development, but the inter-individual variability typical of RS may lead us to doubt the irrevocability of that developmental limit, especially for those girls who are engaged in cognitive rehabilitation. The case study reported here concerns a 21 year old girl with RS who was engaged in cognitive rehabilitation training based upon the principles of Feuerstein’s modificability and mediated learning theory. The training aimed to teach her basic concepts and enhance reading-writing abilities. Statistical analyses showed that the girl reached adequate reading-writing abilities, proving the validity of the cognitive intervention which allowed her to communicate by composing words with her forefinger on an alphabetic table. Although these results need to be cautiously considered as they derive from a single case study, they have implications for future cognitive rehabilitation for deeply impaired clinical conditions as in the case of RS.

adhd and hypermedia

Rett Syndrome (RS) is a neuro-developmental disorder, predominantly affecting females, resulting in severe mental retardation and neuro-behavioral disability. Some RS theoreticians hypothesize that behaviors that are neurologically driven are not open to modification. Despite these claims, the aim of this study is to show that girls with RS can increase high attention abilities through well structured procedures. Twelve girls with RS are involved in training based on the improvement of the attention process and reduction of help needed. The procedure was carried out in five phases with a pre-test/post-test design for clinical research. Results point out that girls with RS show an improvement in selective attention and a decrease in the amount of help needed during the training. This intervention demonstrated that individuals with RS could be promoted and motivated to learn when they were appropriately and therapeutically stimulated. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Le ricerche sulla Teoria della Mente (capacità di riconoscere e attribuire stati mentali a sé e agli altri e di ritenerli causa dei comportamenti) si sono rivolte recentemente anche allo studio della comprensione di stati mentali complessi, sia 129 epistemici che emotivi, che compaiono in età successive alla comprensione della falsa credenza, acquisita intorno ai 4 anni. Gli strumenti di misura della Teoria della Mente adatti a valutare tale capacità, che diventa nello sviluppo sempre più raffinata e articolata, in bambini di età scolare sono relativamente scarsi, in particolare essi riguardano la comprensione di stati mentali a partire da racconti di situazioni o da stimoli percettivi, quali la visione dell’espressione di occhi o volti. Adottando una definizione di Teoria della Mente, che ne riconosce la multicomponenzialità, viene presentato un nuovo strumento, il "Test Vocale sugli Stati Mentali" (TVSM), per valutare la comprensione di un’ampia gamma di stati epistemici ed emotivi complessi nei bambini di 6-11 anni, a partire unicamente da stimoli vocali (indici non verbali della voce). Vengono presentate le fasi di costruzione, validazione (condotta su 220 bambini) e affidabilità (alfa di Cronbach su un campione di 170 bambini e test-retest su 141 bambini) del test, dimostrando le buone proprietà psicometriche del TVSM, che si rivela un valido strumento avanzato di misura della Teoria della Mente. Si è, inoltre, verificato che la prestazione al test è influenzata dall’abilità verbale (PPVT-R) e non dal quoziente intellettivo non verbale (matrici di Raven).

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Alcuni autori hanno individuato nel DDAI un fattore di rischio per la messa in atto di comportamenti prevaricanti in classe. In questa prospettiva, al fine di analizzare le aree di sovrapposizione e le aree indipendenti fra ragazzi con DDAI e alunni coinvolti nel bullismo, entro un campione di 703 soggetti, allievi del secondo ciclo elementare e studenti di scuola media, sono stati individuati i ragazzi con diversi sottotipi di DDAI e gli studenti bulli, bulli-vittima e vittime di prepotenze. I risultati emersi hanno confermato che il DDAI incrementa il rischio di rendersi autori di prevaricazioni a scuola, individuando nella componente impulsiva del DDAI il fattore correlato alla condotta prepotente.

Il SOLAT (Style of Learning and Thinking) è un questionario volto a misurare le differenze individuali nello stile di pensiero (destro o sinistro). Il presente studio esamina le proprietà psicometriche della versione italiana del questionario, somministrato a 489 soggetti di età compresa fra 21 e 31 anni. La verifica di stabilità è stata eseguita attraverso 137 soggetti, che hanno ripetuto la compilazione del test 8 settimane più tardi, dando luogo ad un elevato coefficiente di correlazione test-retest. L’utilizzo delle metodologie di analisi fattoriale e di analisi di affidabilità, insieme alla Rasch analysis, ha consentito di validare il questionario, eliminando i 6 item meno coerenti. Viene infine proposto un criterio originale di classificazione dei soggetti, basato sulla somma dei punteggi ottenuti sui restanti 22 item del questionario.

Il SOLAT (Style of Learning and Thinking) è un questionario volto a misurare le differenze individuali nello stile di pensiero (destro o sinistro). Il presente studio esamina le proprietà psicometriche della versione italiana del questionario, somministrato a 489 soggetti di età compresa fra 21 e 31 anni. La verifica di stabilità è stata eseguita attraverso 137 soggetti, che hanno ripetuto la compilazione del test 8 settimane più tardi, dando luogo ad un elevato coefficiente di correlazione test-retest. L’utilizzo delle metodologie di analisi fattoriale e di analisi di affidabilità, insieme alla Rasch analysis, ha consentito di validare il questionario, eliminando i 6 item meno coerenti. Viene infine proposto un criterio originale di classificazione dei soggetti, basato sulla somma dei punteggi ottenuti sui restanti 22 item del questionario.

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