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Background Involvement in research activities is complex in pediatric nursing and allied health professionals (AHPs). It is important to understand which individual factors are associated with it to inform policy makers in promoting research. Methods A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to describe the level of participation in research activities over the last ten years of nurses and AHPs working in a tertiary pediatric hospital. A large sample of nurses and AHPs working in an Italian academic tertiary pediatric hospital completed an online self-report questionnaire between June and December 2018. Three multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to predict participation in research projects, speaking at conferences, and writing scientific articles. Results Overall, data from 921 health professionals were analyzed (response rate = 66%), of which about 21% (n = 196) reported participating in a research project, while 33% (n = 297) had attended a scientific conference as a speaker, and 11% (n = 94) had written at least one scientific paper. Having a Master or a Regional Advanced Course, working as an AHP or a ward manager, as well as regularly reading scientific journals and participation in an internal hospital research group or attendance in a specific course about research in the hospital, significantly predicted participation in research projects, speaking at conferences and writing scientific papers. It is important to foster research interest and competencies among health professionals to improve participation in research projects, speaking at conferences, and writing scientific papers. Conclusions Overall, we found a good level of attendance at conferences as speakers (33%), a moderate level of participation in research (21%), and low levels for writing scientific papers (11%). Our study highlighted the need to support participation in research activities among nurses and AHPs. Policymakers should identify strategies to promote research among nurses and AHPs, such as protected rewarded time for research, specific education, strengthened collaboration with academics, and financial support. Moreover, hospital managers should promote the development of research culture among health professionals, to improve their research competencies and evidence-based practice.

Background. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is frequent in childhood and may have long-term sequelae. By employing an evidence-based approach, this scoping review aims at identifying (a) early predictors of DLD; (b) the optimal age range for the use of screening and diagnostic tools; (c) effective diagnostic tools in preschool children. Methods. We considered systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and primary observational studies with control groups on predictive, sensitivity and specificity values of screening and diagnostic tools and psycholinguistic measures for the assessment of DLD in preschool children. We identified 37 studies, consisting of 10 systematic reviews and 27 primary studies. Results. Delay in gesture production, receptive and/or expressive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, or word combination up to 30 months emerged as early predictors of DLD, a family history of DLD appeared to be a major risk factor, and low socioeconomic status and environmental input were reported as risk factors with lower predictive power. Optimal time for screening is suggested between age 2 and 3, for diagnosis around age 4. Because of the high variability of sensitivity and specificity values, joint use of standardized and psycholinguistic measures is suggested to increase diagnostic accuracy. Conclusions. Monitoring risk situations and employing caregivers’ reports, clinical assessment and multiple linguistic measures are fundamental for an early identification of DLD and timely interventions.

Although several screening tests for recognizing early signs of reading and spelling difficulties have been developed, brief and methodologically grounded tools for teachers are very limited. The present study aimed to lay the foundation for a new screening tool for teachers: the Checklist for early Indicators of risk Factors in Reading Ability (CI-FRA). The proposed checklist consists of 20 items, based on a 7-point Likert scale, and it investigates five domains: reading, writing, attention, and motor skills. Six hundred sixtyseven children were evaluated by 40 teachers during the first year of primary school and, longitudinally, in the second year. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were applied to verify structural validity. Concurrent validity was assessed by Spearman correlation to analyze the link between CI-FRA and reading and spelling standardized tests and cognitive tests. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach a and interclass correlation coefficient. The CFA reported a three-factor structure as the optimal solution, including language (reading and writing), visuospatial attention, and fine motor skills subscales. Good reliability, good internal consistency, and acceptable test– retest indices were found. Concurrent validity was confirmed by significant correlations between CI-FRA total score and standardized reading and spelling test, as well as by correlations between CI-FRA subscales and neuropsychological standardized test scores. Preliminary evaluation of sensitivity by receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the CI-FRA score has particularly high sensitivity and specificity for word reading speed deficit. In conclusion, the results confirm that CI-FRA is a theoretically grounded and statistically valid tool that could help the teachers to screen for early signs of reading and spelling difficulties.

Background Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) show a disharmonic linguistic profile with a clear pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Despite their sociable nature, atypical socio-communicative abilities and deficits in communication and relationship with others have been found. Aim The aim of the present study was to investigate whether linguistic skills (LS) were in line with the pragmatic and social use of language and the cognitive development of 32 individuals with WS (18 boys and 14 girls) with a mean chronological age of 12.3 (±4.4) years. To examine the relationship between language and mental age (MA) at different ages, the issue was investigated in children and adolescents/young adults with WS. Method Measures of LS, including lexical and morphosyntactic competences, and adaptive socio-communicative abilities (ASCA), pertaining to the use of language in daily living social context, were compared with the MA of participants. In a second step, participants with WS were split into two subgroups based on age, and the relationship between LS, ASCA and MA was studied. Results Although expressive and receptive LS were generally found to be in line with or better than would be expected for MA, specific deficits in receptive ASCA were documented. LS and ASCA appeared to have a different evolution during the different time windows considered. Conclusions Our results underlined the importance of assessing linguistic abilities in the context of adaptive functioning, to guide educational and rehabilitative strategies for individuals with WS.

DSA in gioco permette di fare un’esperienza di crescita che può modificare le credenze e i pensieri disfunzionali che spesso caratterizzano i bambini con Disturbo Specifico dell’Apprendimento (DSA). Accade di frequente, infatti, che la presenza di un DSA, accanto a difficoltà oggettive di lettura, scrittura, calcolo e/o motricità, comporti una serie di implicazioni sul piano emotivo, motivazionale e identitario. Di fronte agli insuccessi ripetuti, è facile che il bambino/ragazzo con DSA si avvilisca, mostri demotivazione e atteggiamenti rinunciatari nei confronti dell’apprendimento e sviluppi anche la convinzione di essere poco capace, fino a identificarsi interamente con le proprie difficoltà. Proprio per lavorare su questi aspetti — con un approccio ludico ma rigoroso, basato sui principi della terapia cognitivo-comportamentale — è stato ideato DSA in gioco, attraverso il quale è possibile permettere al bambino/ragazzo con DSA di: essere accompagnato e sostenuto nel momento della comunicazione della diagnosi e durante il programma di riabilitazione; acquisire consapevolezza del proprio disturbo, dei suoi effetti e delle risorse di cui dispone per minimizzarli; riconoscere le proprie aree di forza e farne un trampolino di lancio per un migliore sviluppo della propria persona; condividere i propri vissuti imparando a distinguere pensieri, emozioni e comportamenti; sviluppare strategie efficaci di problem solving, utili per affrontare le situazioni problematiche inerenti il disturbo; imparare ad assumere un ruolo più attivo nell’apprendimento e più in generale nella gestione quotidiana delle proprie difficoltà. Il gioco può essere proposto in modalità sia individuale sia di gruppo e si rivolge a bambini e ragazzi dagli 8 ai 14 anni di età. In allegato al volume "Il Gioco di Octopus", con il tabellone , i segnalini e gli altri materiali a colori per lo svolgimento del gioco.

Several neuropsychological deficits have been reported as characteristic of the cognitive profile of dyslexic children. Phonological and visual processing are often impaired as well as auditory processing, attention and information processing speed. We investigated whether implicit learning, is impaired in dyslexic children and adolescents. Tests of implicit and declarative learning were administered to 18 clinically defined dyslexics and 18 similar age controls. Dyslexics showed a reduced learning rate in the implicit but not in the declarative task, suggesting a specific deficit of implicit learning. Although alternative hypothesis cannot be ruled out, considering that implicit learning is a cognitive function primarily processed by the cerebellum and that recent neurological and physiological data suggest a cerebellar dysfunction in dyslexia, the present results suggest an impairment of cerebellar system in reading disabilities.

The reduced verbal long-term memory capacities often reported in dyslexics are generally interpreted as a consequence of their deficit in phonological coding.The present study was aimed at evaluating whether the learning deficit exhibited by dyslexics was restricted only to the verbal component of the long-term memory abilities or also involved visual-object and visual-spatial domain. A further goal of the present study was to investigate the predictive value of non-verbal long-term memory abilities with respect to word and non-word reading in dyslexic children.In accordance with these aims, performances of 60 dyslexic children were compared with that of 65 age-matched normal readers on verbal, visual-spatial and visual-object task.Results documented a generalized impairment of episodic long-term memory capacities in dyslexic children and the results did not vary as a function of children's age.Furthermore, in addition to verbal measures, also individual differences in non-verbal long-term memory tasks turn out to be good predictors of reading difficulties in dyslexics.Our findings indicate that the long-term memory deficit in dyslexia is not limited to the dysfunction of phonological components but also involves visual-object and visual-spatial aspect, thus suggesting that dyslexia is associated to multiple cognitive deficits.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of specific types of tasks on the efficiency of implicit procedural learning in the presence of developmental dyslexia (DD). Methods: Sixteen children with DD (mean (SD) age 11.6 (1.4) years) and 16 matched normal reader controls (mean age 11.4 (1.9) years) were administered two tests (the Serial Reaction Time test and the Mirror Drawing test) in which implicit knowledge was gradually acquired across multiple trials. Although both tests analyse implicit learning abilities, they tap different competencies. The Serial Reaction Time test requires the development of sequential learning and little (if any) procedural learning, whereas the Mirror Drawing test involves fast and repetitive processing of visuospatial stimuli but no acquisition of sequences. Results: The children with DD were impaired on both implicit learning tasks, suggesting that the learning deficit observed in dyslexia does not depend on the material to be learned (with or without motor sequence of response action) but on the implicit nature of the learning that characterises the tasks. Conclusion: Individuals with DD have impaired implicit procedural learning.

Background Verbal short-term memory, as measured by digit or word span, is generally impaired in individuals with Down's syndrome (DS) compared to mental age-matched controls. Moving from the working memory model, the present authors investigated the hypothesis that impairment in some of the articulatory loop sub-components is at the base of the deficient maintenance and recall of phonological representations in individuals with DS. Methods Two experiments were carried out in a group of adolescents with DS and in typically developing children matched for mental age. In the first experiment, the authors explored the reliance of these subjects on the subvocal rehearsal mechanism during a word-span task and the effects produced by varying the frequency of occurrence of the words on the extension of the word span. In the second experiment, they investigated the functioning of the phonological store component of the articulatory loop in more detail. Results A reduced verbal span in DS was confirmed. Neither individuals with DS nor controls engaged in spontaneous subvocal rehearsal. Moreover, the data provide little support for defective functioning of the phonological store in DS. Conclusions No evidence was found suggesting that a dysfunction of the articulatory loop and lexical-semantic competence significantly contributed to verbal span reduction in subjects with DS. Alternative explanations of defective verbal short-term memory in DS, such as a central executive system impairment, must be considered.

This study aimed at investigating long-term memory functioning in Down's syndrome subjects (DS) as compared to individuals with mental retardation of different etiology (MR) and mental-age matched normal children (MA). For this purpose, tests of verbal and visuo-perceptual explicit memory and a verbal repetition priming task were administered to 15 DS, 15 MR and 30 MA subjects. Our results document comparable verbal priming in the three groups. As for explicit memory, normal children performed better than MR individuals, and these, in turn, better than DS subjects. Compared to MR subjects, DS subjects were particularly deficient in organizing verbal material according to its categorical structure and in actively retrieving stored information. These results support a view positing heterogeneity of neuropsychological deficits across distinct etiology MR groups.