Children's and parent's psychological profiles in selective mutism and generalized anxiety disorder: a clinical study.

Selective mutism (SM) is classified in DSM-5 as an anxiety disorder. The aim of the study was to investigate the psychological features of children with SM and their parental psychological profiles, compared to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) children and their parents. The parents of 26 preschool children with SM and 32 with children with GAD filled out the child behavior check list for 1½-5 years (CBCL1½-5) and the symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R). Information about the children and their parents' histories was collected through clinical interviews. Children with SM scored higher than children with GAD on the CBCL1½-5 withdrawn scale and lower on the attention problems, aggressive behavior, and externalizing problems scales. Mothers of children with SM scored higher on the SCL-90-R obsessive-compulsive subscale and Global Severity Index than mothers of children with GAD, while fathers of children with SM scored higher on the SCL-90-R Phobic Anxiety subscale and on the Global Severity Index than fathers of children with GAD. Parents of children with SM displayed a greater presence of stressful life events than parents of children with GAD. Data appeared to confirm that SM and GAD share a common anxious core, though some differences in the children's psychological profiles and the parents' history and personality emerged. Future research should focus on the role of external factors, such as parent-child relationship, in the development of SM.

Developmental Coordination Disorder Affects the Processing of Action-Related Verbs.

Processing action-language affects the planning and execution of motor acts, which suggests that the motor system might be involved in action-language understanding. However, this claim is hotly debated. For the first time, we compared the processing of action-verbs in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), a disease that specifically affects the motor system, with children with a typical development (TD). We administered two versions of a go/no-go task in which verbs expressing either hand, foot or abstract actions were presented. We found that only when the semantic content of a verb has to be retrieved, TD children showed an increase in reaction times if the verb involved the same effector used to give the response. In contrast, DCD patients did not show any difference between verb categories irrespective of the task. These findings suggest that the pathological functioning of the motor system in individuals with DCD also affects language processing.

Psychiatric comorbidity in learning disorder: analysis of family variables.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the role of parental relational styles on the development of psychopathological disturbances in children with Learning Disability (LD). METHOD: Fifty-six children aged 7-12 diagnosed with LD were evaluated on the basis of the Children Behaviour Check List (CBCL) completed by parents. Parents completed an Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and a family relationships internal representations questionnaire (Family Attitudes Questionnaire, FAQ). Multiple regressions were performed, using parental FAQ and ASQ scores as predictors and children's CBCL scores as criterion RESULTS: Sixty percent of children in the sample obtained a clinical score in at least one of the two syndrome groups. Internalizing behavior in children was predicted by father's Relationships as Secondary and mother's Need for Approval and Preoccupation with Relationships scores. Externalizing behavior was predicted by both father and mother's Need for Approval scores. CONCLUSIONS: Insecure attachment styles in parents appeared associated with maladaptive emotional-behavioral strategies in their children and may be interpreted as a risk factor for the development of the latter. More specifically, internalizing behavior in children appeared associated with dimensions pointing to dismissing attachment in fathers and to preoccupied attachment in mothers, while externalizing behavior appeared associated with dimensions indicating preoccupied attachment in both parents. Possible interpretations of these data within the LD population are put forward.