Language development, reading and word learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): a review on eye tracking studies.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to review research that has been conducted over the past five years on language development, reading skills and word learning with the use of the eye tracking machine as regards the population with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to typically developed population. Materials and methods: A combination of relevant terms from Google Scholar, Research Gate and PsychINFO databases was used and as a result 24 studies emerged. The total number of studies that met the inclusion criteria was 21. Results: Studies focusing on the language development of people with ASD have presented significant findings regarding vocabulary processing and the preferential focus on specific stimuli (images, audio) over a wide range of ages that in some cases have not been investigated until then. Furthermore, studies on reading have found that adults with ASD showed a strong preference for images and symbols over texts, longer reading time and performances similar to the typical population in vocabulary processing. Studies on word learning demonstrated that adults with ASD are able to rely on gaze cues in order to learn a new word and they have the ability to use syntactic bootstrapping. For preschool and early school-aged children with ASD the results showed that they are capable of cross-situational learning. Conclusions: This review provides information on the effectiveness of the eye tracking method as a tool that can contribute to the identification of deficits in language processing on the part of individuals with ASD from early childhood to adulthood, and more specifically as regards the domains of language development, reading and word learning.

The Greek Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Medical Student Version (JSE-S): Psychometric Properties and Its Associated Factors.

The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student version (JSE-S) and its association with potential predictors among Greek-speaking undergraduate medical students. This study adopted a cross-sectional, comparative-descriptive research design. The study was conducted during October and November 2023. Cronbach's α values for the JSE-S and the factors "perspective taking", "compassionate care", and "standing in the patient's shoes" showed internal consistency. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the JSE-S score in the test-retest study indicated a high level of reliability. The participants showed moderate empathy levels. Females scored higher than males in the Greek version of the JSE-S. Moreover, students enrolled in the fourth academic year showed higher empathy mean scores than those enrolled in the first year. Statistically significant empathy differences by specialty preferences or faith in God/supreme power were not found. The present study provided satisfactory evidence that the Greek JSE-S is a psychometrically sound measurement instrument. Empathy differences by gender were found in line with prior literature.

A systematic review on the use of technology to enhance the academic achievements of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in language learning.

This review investigates the use of technology for children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and their academic achievements in language learning, as well as their attitudes towards technology use. The goal is to integrate this information in order to learn how technology is provided to this population regarding first and second language learning, and also how effective and appropriate its use is and how it is perceived by stakeholders in the learning process. A systematic review was conducted, and after the final screening process, 15 studies were analysed, the majority of which were about first language learning (n = 11). Most studies found that technology use has a positive impact on students' language skills and that students tend to find it more motivating and engaging. While these technologies seem to be promising tools for improving skills, further studies must be conducted, especially in the field of second language learning.

Morphosyntactic abilities in young children with Down syndrome: Evidence from the Greek language.

Down syndrome is the most common genetic syndrome of intellectual disabilities with a distinct linguistic profile. Language research so far has come mainly from the English language, a language with different syntax and morphology from many other languages, including Greek, indicating a paucity of research findings in the Greek language. Given the rich morphology and distinct syntactic characteristics of the Greek language, the present study evaluated the performance of children with Down syndrome (N = 45) who are native Greek speakers in syntax and morphology and compared it with the performance of children with typical development (N = 45) matched for chronological age. The paper also analysed the items of each task in terms of the performance of the two groups in subject-verb agreement, noun conversion from singular to plural, and verb conversion from present to past and future tenses. All children were tested in four subscales of a standardized test, including morphosyntactic comprehension, morphosyntactic completion and articulation (parts 1 and 2). The results showed that children with Down syndrome lag behind in syntax and morphology compared with children of typical development and present difficulties in specific aspects of morphology and syntax inherent in the Greek language. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Morphosyntactic skills are severely impaired in Down syndrome, and research so far has come mainly from the English language, a language with different syntax and morphology from many other languages. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This research adds more information about morphosyntactic skills in children with Down syndrome compared with typically developing children in the Greek language, a language with rich morphology and syntax. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Children with Down syndrome face difficulties in morphosyntactic skills in the Greek language, especially in subject-verb agreement and in converting nouns from singular to plural.

Written Language Production in Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

This study contributes to the cross-linguistic investigation of written language difficulties in children with DLD by reporting new findings from Greek-speaking individuals. Specifically, we investigate the writing performance of children with DLD and compare it to that of a group of typically developing (TD) children, matched for gender and chronological age. The specific orthographic properties of Greek, radically different from those of English, offer a unique opportunity to understand the nature of written language production in DLD. The participants of the study were 62 children, 31 with DLD and 31 TD. Both groups were asked to write a text on a special prompt they were given by the researcher and they were assessed in the total number of words used in text, in the proportion of incorrectly spelt words in text as well as in the use of verbs, nouns, content and function words. Also, the different words and the total number of main and subordinate clauses each of the participants used in their text were counted. The findings of the study showed that the written outputs of the DLD group were poorer in almost all measurements compared to those of their TD peers. We discuss our findings in relation to those reported by other languages, in particular English, and spell out the implications for assessing written language in children with DLD.

Effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Medical Comorbidities on Language Abilities.

Objective: The primary objective of the present cross-sectional study is to evaluate the semantic language abilities of patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) compared to normative data. Secondary objectives are to examine the effects of OSAS comorbidities on language test performance. Method: 118 adult patients suffering from OSAS were assessed using standardized tests (Boston Naming Test, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Verbal Fluency Test). Results: Compared to normative standards, the OSAS group (age and education adjusted mean) scored significantly lower on all tests (p < 0.01). The OSAS group also included a significantly higher percentage of persons scoring below the 5th percentile of the normative distribution on the four tests (p < 0.01). The Apnea/Hypopnea Index, O2 Desaturation index, SaO2 <85% (min) and SaO2 <75% (min) were significantly associated with language test scores (p < 0.05). Moreover, higher Apnea-Hypopnea Index score and night-time oxygen desaturation were associated with reduced phonemic and semantic fluency performance only among patients with a history of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia (p < 0.05). The moderating effect of diabetes and cardiovascular disease on the association between OSAS severity indices and test scores did not reach significance (p > 0.6). Conclusions: Results suggest that the severity of semantic language impairments in patients with OSAS is associated with the severity of the disease and intensified by common medical comorbidities (hypertension and hypercholesterolemia).

Effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea on cognitive functions: evidence for a common nature.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) show similar neurocognitive impairments. Effects are more apparent in severe cases, whereas in moderate and mild cases the effects are equivocal. The exact mechanism that causes cognitive dysfunctions in both diseases is still unknown and only suggestions have been made for each disease separately. The primary objective of this review is to present COPD and OSAS impact on cognitive functions. Secondly, it aims to examine the potential mechanisms by which COPD and OSAS can be linked and provide evidence for a common nature that affects cognitive functions in both diseases. Patients with COPD and OSAS compared to normal distribution show significant deficits in the cognitive abilities of attention, psychomotor speed, memory and learning, visuospatial and constructional abilities, executive skills, and language. The severity of these deficits in OSAS seems to correlate with the physiological events such as sleep defragmentation, apnea/hypopnea index, and hypoxemia, whereas cognitive impairments in COPD are associated with hypoventilation, hypoxemia, and hypercapnia. These factors as well as vascocerebral diseases and changes in systemic hemodynamic seem to act in an intermingling and synergistic way on the cause of cognitive dysfunctions in both diseases. However, low blood oxygen pressure seems to be the dominant factor that contributes to the presence of cognitive deficits in both COPD and OSAS.

Verbal fluency in adults diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood.

It has been increasingly believed that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder with lifelong course associated with cognitive difficulties including among others, language production, verbal learning, and verbal fluency. However, research is limited to children and adolescents, and very few researchers have examined the impact of ADHD in adulthood on the cognitive domain. The aim of the present study is to examine the performance of adults, diagnosed with ADHD in childhood, on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks. It is hypothesized that adults with ADHD will perform worse on both tasks than matched controls. Sixty university students (30 diagnosed with ADHD in childhood and 30 matched controls) of mean age 20.5 participated in the study. They all completed two verbal fluency tasks. The ADHD group had statistically significant lower scores than the non-ADHD group on the phonemic, but not the semantic task. The study provides some evidence that ADHD in childhood has a negative impact on adults' phonemic verbal fluency. This finding could be probably explained by the fact that phonemic fluency is considered more cognitively demanding and impacting more on the frontal lobe functions, known to be impaired in ADHD, than semantic fluency.

Conceptual competence as a component of second language fluency.

In this article we argue that conceptual competence should be seen as a component of second language (L2) communicative competence. Abstract concepts are highly expressed by means of metaphors, metonymies, idioms and other types of figurative language. In literature it is suggested that knowledge and appropriate use of these lexical segments are closely related to L2 mastery and therefore conceptual instruction is expected to facilitate L2 learning. To test the relationship between conceptual and L2 competence we conducted an experiment in which Modern Greek learners were encouraged to express their views on the concept of happiness. The results showed their weak performance in conveying their ideas in a coherent and acceptable manner.

Cerebellum and reading.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, the cerebellum has been considered to control coordinated movement. However, in recent years it has been argued that it contributes to higher cognitive functions. OBJECTIVES: This review aims to present recent evidence concerning the role of the cerebellum and discusses how it can contribute to reading. METHOD: The procedure used involves findings coming from three quite different areas, lesion, anatomic and functional imaging studies. RESULTS: These studies indicate a link between cerebellum and reading and its relationship with specific reading difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Our review provides evidence which is in accordance with the recently established role of the cerebellum as a regulator of mental functions and supports theoretical models suggesting that cerebellar deficits might be a cause of developmental dyslexia.

Reduced language abilities in adolescents who snore.

Polysomnographic assessment of 20 adolescents who were referred to hospital for loud and frequent snoring showed they suffered from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Their apneas and desaturation rates (SaO(2)) were abnormal in comparison with the non-snoring adolescents, who served as their controls. The snoring group obtained lower scores on phonemic and semantic tests and had lower marks in the Greek language subject at school than the non-snoring group. These findings could be explained by the fact that OSAS causes certain physiological disturbances which may lead to dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex which plays an active role in language and verbal skills.

Attraction of iodide ions by the free water surface, revealed by simulations with a polarizable force field based on Drude oscillators.

Recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown that polarizable anions, such as iodide and bromide, preferentially accumulate close to the surface of electrolyte solutions. This finding is in sharp contrast to the previously prevailing idea that salts are dielectrically excluded from the free water surface and opens up new avenues for research in specific salt effects. In this work, we have verified the ability of a recently introduced polarizable water model, SWM4-DP, to reproduce this behavior, by simulations of a NaI/water slab, corresponding to a 1.2 M solution. The water and ion polarizabilities are modeled by classical Drude oscillator particles. As revealed by the simulations, a double layer is formed close to the free water surface, with the iodide ions located closer to the interface and the sodium ions at a neighboring, interior layer. Near the surface, all solution species acquire an induced dipole moment, that is perpendicular to the surface and points toward the exterior. The double charge layer causes ordering of water at a subsurface region. Simulations with a simpler system of a single iodide ion in a water slab show that the surface position is stabilized by induced charge interactions; in contrast, the charge-dipole interactions between the iodide permanent charge and the water permanent dipole moment favor the bulk position. Thus, the polarizabilities of ion and water are essential for explaining the increased preference of iodide for the air-water interface, in accordance with other studies.

Verbal abilities in low and highly proficient bilinguals.

The study investigated native language verbal skills among low and highly proficient bilinguals, using the WISC III verbal subtests. Highly proficient bilinguals showed a superiority for almost all verbal subtests. This finding lends support to Threshold Theory which maintains that bilinguals need to achieve high levels of linguistic proficiency before bilingualism can promote cognitive development. Our study also shows that verbal ability underlying proficiency in the native language can be generalized to a foreign language, revealing a causal connection between native and foreign language learning.

Left-handedness in asthmatic children.

Left-handedness has been associated with asthma and allergic disorders. The Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda (GBG) hypothesis could explain this association. In view of previous findings, we investigated the distribution of laterality scores among asthmatic children and controls aged 4-8 years old. Seventy families with asthmatic children were administered the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire and the Edinburgh Left-handedness Inventory. A sample of 70 families with non-asthmatic, healthy children was used as controls. The majority of children had mild asthma. Ambidexterity was the main feature in the asthmatic children. A statistically significant difference in the laterality quotient (LQ) distribution was found in the group of asthmatic children with allergic rhinitis (LQ mean value in the asthmatic children with allergic rhinitis: 42.85 vs. 79.50 in the rest of the asthmatic children). These results suggest that there is a tendency towards left-handedness in asthmatic children and lend support to the GBG hypothesis.