Nonverbal Perceptual And Cognitive Processes In Children With Language Disorders

A growing body of literature is suggesting that many children with language disorders and delays--even those with so-called specific language impairment--have difficulties in other domains as well. In this pathbreaking book, the authors draw on more than 40 years of research and clinical observations of populations ranging from various groups of children to adults with brain damage to construct a comprehensive model for the development of the interrelated skills involved in language performance, and trace the crucial implications of this model for intervention. Early tactual feedback, they argue, is more critical for the perceptual/cognitive organization of experiences that constitutes a foundation for language development than either visual or auditory input, and the importance of tactually-anchored nonverbal interaction cannot be ignored if efforts at treatment are to be successful. All those professionally involved in work with children and adults with language problems will find the authors' model provocative and useful.

A growing body of literature is suggesting that many children with language disorders and delays--even those with so-called specific language impairment--have difficulties in other domains as well. In this pathbreaking book, the authors draw on more than 40 years of research and clinical observations of populations ranging from various groups of children to adults with brain damage to construct a comprehensive model for the development of the interrelated skills involved in language performance, and trace the crucial implications of this model for intervention. Early tactual feedback, they argue, is more critical for the perceptual/cognitive organization of experiences that constitutes a foundation for language development than either visual or auditory input, and the importance of tactually-anchored nonverbal interaction cannot be ignored if efforts at treatment are to be successful. All those professionally involved in work with children and adults with language problems will find the authors' model provocative and useful.

This book presents theories and clinical practices for dealing with children diagnosed with pervasive developmental disability or PDD. These are children who have a wide range of disabilities that affect their participation in even the most routine events of daily life, such as eating, dressing, bathing, and so on. Unlike many who are diagnosed with classic autism, however, these children seem to have normal social behavior, normal physical appearance, the ability to learn, hear, see, and move their bodies at will-in other words, none of the well-known reasons that cause autistic and other children to develop differently. These children have the use of all their senses, but their brains are unable to process the information that is fed through them. While much new research is being done in genetics and neurobiology to explain why something in these children has gone fundamentally wrong with their development, clinicians and therapists who deal with them on a daily basis have needed to develop practical therapies based on how the children react to their environments. Movement and Action in Learning and Development suggests that when therapists plan treatment strategies, children's experiences and interactions with the world should be given the same consideration as the limits of their biological makeups. Too often children diagnosed with PDD are lumped into therapy groups for the classically autistic, where the focus tends to be on the distance senses-hearing and vision. Case studies presented in the first half of the book suggest that for children with PDD, there is a disconnect between the brain and the tactile-kinesthetic senses that involve body movement and physical interaction with the world. Movement, in turn, seems to be connected to perception, interpretation of the world around, and ultimately, the acquisition of knowledge. For children with PDD, "normal" learning seems to be limited not only by their tactile-kinesthetic sense but also by the lack of collaboration between all the senses. The second half of the book demonstrates how these new theories translate into clinical practices.

This comprehensive guide describes the aftercare that is appropriate in young cancer patients and discusses in detail the risk and detection of treatment sequelae. It explains the impacts on body and mind of both the disease itself and the different risk-adapted cancer treatments currently in use. Clear guidance is provided on diagnosis and management of the principal treatment-related toxicities in different organs and organ systems and for a wide variety of tumor types. In addition, the role of genetic polymorphisms in the development of adverse therapy-related outcomes is explored, and advice offered on genetic counselling. As the number of long-term survivors of childhood cancer and of cancer in young adults continues to grow, so issues surrounding potential sequelae, second malignancies, and quality of life are becoming ever more important. All practitioners involved in the care of young cancer patients will find this book to be a helpful source of up-to-date information and assistance.

This book presents recent advances in nonlinear speech processing beyond nonlinear techniques. It shows that it exploits heuristic and psychological models of human interaction in order to succeed in the implementations of socially believable VUIs and applications for human health and psychological support. The book takes into account the multifunctional role of speech and what is “outside of the box” (see Björn Schuller’s foreword). To this aim, the book is organized in 6 sections, each collecting a small number of short chapters reporting advances “inside” and “outside” themes related to nonlinear speech research. The themes emphasize theoretical and practical issues for modelling socially believable speech interfaces, ranging from efforts to capture the nature of sound changes in linguistic contexts and the timing nature of speech; labors to identify and detect speech features that help in the diagnosis of psychological and neuronal disease, attempts to improve the effectiveness and performance of Voice User Interfaces, new front-end algorithms for the coding/decoding of effective and computationally efficient acoustic and linguistic speech representations, as well as investigations capturing the social nature of speech in signaling personality traits, emotions and improving human machine interactions.

This handbook is geared towards the following aims: Reviewing the state of research on disordered language perception and production in adults and children. Describing and discussing present attempts at modelling human language processing by using linguistic disorders and pathologies as a data base. Presenting diagnostic and therapeutic concepts. Pointing out gaps and inconcistencies in current knowledge and theories. In bringing together knowlegde of different sources and disciplines under a common roof, the editors have achieved a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the field of language pathology. Because of the diversity of the disciplines contributing to this scientific field, the chapters differ clearly in theories and methodologies. Yet this handbook represents a clear and common interdisciplinary contribution to linguistic disorders and pathologies and, furthermore, demonstrates the amount of interdisciplinary interaction still required. We chose this title in order to encompass as broadly as possible abnormalities and alterations of language perception, comprehension and production in adults and children, including nonpathological disorders. This handbook will be of interest to anybody involved with disordered language and/or language and speech disturbances, such as linguists and psychologists working in related research areas or teaching related subjects, scientists analyzing and modelling linguistic and cognitive processes (e.g. in Cognitive Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Neurolinguistics, Neuropsychology, Behavioural Neurology, Artificial Intelligence Research, and Cognitive Science), clinicians dealing with aquired or developmental language disorders, and speech pathologists and therapists. Besides presenting the state of the art, the handbook provides rich bibliographical information for research workers, clinicians, and advanced students.

Processing time requires a complex set of abilities that dictates how one adapts to the environment. Timing is key in how we communicate, organize our space and understand the world. When timing is intact, it often exists below one's conscious awareness, but when one's ability to process time is disrupted, the effects are noticeable and widespread. To better understand the construct of temporal dysfunction, one has to examine the concept of timing from multiple angles. An integrative approach is required to understand the possible biological, cognitive and psychological etiologies of temporal dysfunction. In addition, expertise in language, measurement and psychopathology are necessary to comprehend how timing affects one's representation of the world. This Research Topic is dedicated to examining timing and temporal dysfunction across a variety of tasks and disorders. Specifically, we seek to understand the most basic types of timing dysfunction and how they may affect a wide range of behaviors and symptoms as well as higher levels of temporal deficits involved in how one perceives the time spent. This Research Topic represents the intersection of medicine, psychology, cognition and perception in a unified attempt to shed light on temporal processing. The collection of original research articles and case studies, highlighting novel methodologies and interventions, illustrates the complexity of timing dysfunction and how understanding these deficits helps us to get a fresh look at a wide range of clinical psychopathologies and to develop better interventions.