Typically Developing Children Children Research Articles

On acquiring a complex personal reference system: experimental results from Thai children with autism

Reference of pronouns may be constrained via lexical presuppositions, includingmarked F-features, implicated presuppositions, and deictic center shifting in certain languages.This paper explores the acquisition of personal reference terms in Thai, a language that hasa highly complex personal reference system. The participants of the study were 67 typicallydevelopingchildren (TD) and 29 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a populationwhich has long been observed to have difficulties with pronouns. The children were asked tocomplete simple production and comprehension tasks on personal reference terms. Overall,ASD children performed on par in production but significantly poorer in comprehension thanTD children. Given the freedom of choice in the production task, ASD children preferred usingfixed referential terms for self-reference, whereas TD children opted for personal pronouns. Interms of comprehension, ASD children were shown to generally be able to detect the personfeatures but they seemed to struggle the most with the pragmatic aspects of personal referenceterms. Our results support previous literature that lexical presuppositions are acquiredearlier than implicated presuppositions. We add to the literature that the types or the amount ofimplicated presuppositions matter in acquisition.Keywords: implicated presupposition, pragmatic inference, pronoun, personal reference, acquisition,deixis, Thai

Local dynamic stability during treadmill walking can detect children with developmental coordination disorder

ObjectiveDevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) is an innate impairment of motor coordination that affects basic locomotion and balance. This study investigated local dynamic stability of trunk accelerations during treadmill walking as an objective evaluation of gait stability and the sensitivity and specificity of this measure to discriminate children with DCD from typically developing children. MethodEight children with DCD and ten age- and gender-matched typically developing children (TD) walked four minutes on a treadmill. Trunk accelerations in vertical, medio-lateral and anterior-posterior directions were recorded with a sternum mounted accelerometer at 256Hz. Short term local dynamic stability (λs), root mean square (RMS) and relative root mean square (RMSR) were calculated from measures of orthogonal trunk accelerations. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to discriminate between groups based on short term local dynamic stability. Resultsλs was significantly greater in children with DCD in the main movement direction (AP) (DCD: 1.69±0.17 λs; TD:1.41±0.17 λs; p=0.005), indicating reduced local dynamic stability. RMS and RMSR accelerations showed no difference between children with DCD and TD children in any direction. The ROC analysis of λs in separate directions and in two dimensions showed an excellent accuracy of discriminating between children with DCD and TD children. Anterior-posterior direction in combination with medio-lateral or vertical showed best performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91. ConclusionWe have shown that children with developmental coordination disorder have general reduced local dynamic stability and that the short term Lyapunov exponent has good power of discrimination between DCD and TD.

Resilience in mathematics after early brain injury: The roles of parental input and early plasticity

Children with early focal unilateral brain injury show remarkable plasticity in language development. However, little is known about how early brain injury influences mathematical learning. Here, we examine early number understanding, comparing cardinal number knowledge of typically developing children (TD) and children with pre- and perinatal lesions (BI) between 42 and 50 months of age. We also examine how this knowledge relates to the number words children hear from their primary caregivers early in life. We find that children with BI, are, on average, slightly behind TD children in both cardinal number knowledge and later mathematical performance, and show slightly slower learning rates than TD children in cardinal number knowledge during the preschool years. We also find that parents’ “number talk” to their toddlers predicts later mathematical ability for both TD children and children with BI. These findings suggest a relatively optimistic story in which neural plasticity is at play in children’s mathematical development following early brain injury. Further, the effects of early number input suggest that intervening to enrich the number talk that children with BI hear during the preschool years could narrow the math achievement gap.

Wideband acoustic immittance in children with Down syndrome: prediction of middle-ear dysfunction, conductive hearing loss and patent PE tubes

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate pressurised wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) tests in children with Down syndrome (DS) and in typically developing children (TD) for prediction of conductive hearing loss (CHL) and patency of pressure equalising tubes (PETs). Design: Audiologic diagnosis was determined by audiometry in combination with distortion-product otoacoustic emissions, 0.226 kHz tympanometry and otoscopy. WAI results were compared for ears within diagnostic categories (Normal, CHL and PET) and between groups (TD and DS). Study sample: Children with DS (n = 40; mean age 6.4 years), and TD children (n = 48; mean age 5.1 years) were included. Results: Wideband absorbance was significantly lower at 1–4 kHz in ears with CHL compared to NH for both TD and DS groups. In ears with patent PETs, wideband absorbance and group delay (GD) were larger than in ears without PETs between 0.25 and 1.5 kHz. Wideband absorbance tests were performed similarly for prediction of CHL and patent PETs in TD and DS groups. Conclusions: Wideband absorbance and GD revealed specific patterns in both TD children and those with DS that can assist in detection of the presence of significant CHL, assess the patency of PETs, and provide frequency-specific information in the audiometric range.

Observing iconic gestures enhances word learning in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment.

Research has shown that observing iconic gestures helps typically developing children (TD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) learn new words. So far, studies mostly compared word learning with and without gestures. The present study investigated word learning under two gesture conditions in children with and without language impairment. Twenty children with SLI (age four), twenty age-matched TD children, and twenty language-matched TD children were taught words that were presented with either iconic or non-iconic gestures. Results showed that children of all groups benefited more successfully from observing iconic gestures for word learning. The iconic gesture advantage was similar across groups. Thus, observing iconic gestures prompts richer encoding and makes word learning more efficient in TD and language impaired children.

Disordered cortical connectivity underlies the executive function deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders

The present study examined the executive function and cortical connectivity of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and investigated whether the executive function deficits exhibited by these children were differentially affected and associated with the cortical connectivity. The present study compared high-functioning (HFA) and low-functioning (LFA) children with typically developing children (TDC) on their executive functions as measured by the Hong Kong List Learning Test, D2 Test of Concentration, Five Point Test, Children’s Color Trail Test, Tower of California Test, and Go/No-Go task and neural connectivity as measured by theta coherence in the distributed fronto-parietal network. Thirty-eight children with ASD (19 HFA and 19 LFA) and 28 TDC children, aged 8–17 years, participated voluntarily in the study. The results on executive function showed that the LFA group demonstrated the poorest performance as exhibited by their Executive Composite and individual executive function scores, while the TDC group exhibited the highest. These results have extended the findings of previous studies in demonstrating that HFA and LFA children have significant differences in their degree of executive function deficits. The results on neural connectivity also showed that children with ASD demonstrated a different pattern of electroencephalography (EEG) coherence from TDC children, as demonstrated by the significantly elevated theta coherence in the fronto-parietal network, and that the severity of executive dysfunction between high- and low-functioning children with ASD was found to be associated with the disordered neural connectivity in these children.

Knee Moment-Angle Characteristics and Semitendinosus Muscle Morphology in Children with Spastic Paresis Selected for Medial Hamstring Lengthening.

To increase knee range of motion and improve gait in children with spastic paresis (SP), the semitendinosus muscle (ST) amongst other hamstring muscles is frequently lengthened by surgery, but with variable success. Little is known about how the pre-surgical mechanical and morphological characteristics of ST muscle differ between children with SP and typically developing children (TD). The aims of this study were to assess (1) how knee moment-angle characteristics and ST morphology in children with SP selected for medial hamstring lengthening differ from TD children, as well as (2) how knee moment-angle characteristics and ST morphology are related. In nine SP and nine TD children, passive knee moment-angle characteristics and morphology of ST (i.e. fascicle length, muscle belly length, tendon length, physiological cross-sectional area, and volume) were assessed by hand-held dynamometry and freehand 3D ultrasound, respectively. At net knee flexion moments above 0.5 Nm, more flexed knee angles were found for SP compared to TD children. The measured knee angle range between 0 and 4 Nm was 30% smaller in children with SP. Muscle volume, physiological cross-sectional area, and fascicle length normalized to femur length were smaller in SP compared to TD children (62%, 48%, and 18%, respectively). Sixty percent of the variation in knee angles at 4 Nm net knee moment was explained by ST fascicle length. Altered knee moment-angle characteristics indicate an increased ST stiffness in SP children. Morphological observations indicate that in SP children planned for medial hamstring lengthening, the longitudinal and cross-sectional growth of ST muscle fibers is reduced. The reduced fascicle length can partly explain the increased ST stiffness and, hence, a more flexed knee joint in these SP children.

The complexity of the Spanish subjunctive in bilingual children with SLI

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the use of the Spanish subjunctive in bilingual children with and without specific language impairments (SLI). Using an elicitation task, we examine: (i) the potential of the subjunctive as a grammatical marker of SLI in Spanish-English bilingual children, (ii) the extent to which degree of bilingualism affects performance, and (iii) the specific patterns of errors across groups. The participants in this study include 16 children with SLI and 16 typically developing children (TD) matched on age, English language proficiency, and mother’s education level. Bilingual children are classified either as Spanish-dominant children with intermediate English proficiency (asymmetrical bilinguals, AsyBi) or near-balanced bilinguals (BalBi). The experimental task consists of a sentence-completion exercise eliciting the subjunctive in complement, purpose, and temporal clauses. Results suggest that (i) level of bilingual proficiency, language clinical status, and age predicts the accurate production of the subjunctive; and (ii) temporal clauses might have a better potential to discriminate between TD children and children with SLI in bilingual settings. This study provides general support for grammatically targeted approaches to assessment in bilingual populations.

Visual-motor integration, visual perception and motor coordination in a population with Williams syndrome and in typically developing children.

Williams syndrome (WS) is characterised by severe deficits in visual-spatial abilities in contrast to relatively well-developed language abilities. There is very limited knowledge about visual-motor integration (VMI) in people with WS. Twenty-six participants with WS aged 6 to 41 years were assessed with all three tests of the Beery-VMI test, namely the VMI test, the visual perception test (VP) and the motor coordination test (MC). Their results were compared with those of 154 typically developing children (TD) aged 4 to 12. No influence of age on the three tested abilities was found amongst the participants with WS in comparison with the TD children. The participants with WS scored similarly to the 5-year-old TD children in all three tasks; their scores on the VMI correlated with the results on the VP and MC tests, which were similar to those of the TD children. Finally, the scores on the non-verbal intelligence test (Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices) were highly predictive of the scores in the VMI and VP tests and partially explain the variance in the MC scores. The present study is the first to use all three tasks of the Beery-VMI test. For the TD children, the performances on the three subtests did not show the same developmental trajectory. In contrast, the participants with WS did not show the same developmental trajectory. The participants with WS exhibited poor performances on all tasks with scores comparable with the 5-year-old TD children. As high correlations between these abilities were observed, improving VP and MC could help the development of VMI, which in turn could improve visual-spatial abilities in individuals with WS.

Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children.

BackgroundProcedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience.MethodsThe aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6–12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance.ResultsTDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures.

Depression Related To Activity In Typically Developing Children But Not In Children With Autism

PURPOSE: Physical activity (PA) has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in various populations. This study was conducted to compare PA levels between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children (TD) and to determine whether a relationship exists between PA and depression or anxiety in children with ASD. METHODS: 17 TD and 15 children with ASD (μ: 9.5 ± 1.8 yrs) wore triaxial accelerometers to assess PA across 6 consecutive days except during sleep and water activities. Cut points were assessed for sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous PA (Evenson, 2008). Moderate and vigorous counts were then combined (MVPA). Each child’s parents completed ratings on their child’s ASD symptom expression and the degree of depression and anxiety symptoms their child exhibited via the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd Ed. (BASC-2). Independent t-tests were used for group differences and Pearson’s correlations were used to identify relationships between variables. RESULTS: TD children recorded a significantly greater average daily wear time than ASD children (791.4 vs. 723.9 min. respectively; p<0.001). There were however, no significant differences between TD and ASD participants across percentage of time spent nor average daily minutes spent in sedentary (489.6 vs. 446.8; p=0.07), light (250.6 vs. 234.1; p=0.32), moderate (35.0 vs. 28.1; p=0.08), or vigorous (16.2 vs. 14.8; p=0.67) PA nor in average total activity counts (126.6 vs. 121.97; p=0.71). Neither group reached minimal recommendations for MVPA in children. ASD participants had significantly higher BASC-2 scores for depression (57.6 ± 10.9 vs. 45.1 ± 6.9; p<0.001) but not anxiety than TD participants. Relationships between PA and BASC-2 scores were not significant in the ASD group. In the TD group, there were significant negative relationships between depression scores and average moderate PA (r=-0.656, p=0.006), vigorous PA (r=-0.656, p=0.006), MVPA (r=-0.735, p<0.001), and average total counts (r=-0.637, p=0.008). CONCLUSIONS: While PA did not differ significantly between groups, a significant negative relationship between PA and depression in TD but not ASD suggests that a greater dose of intentional PA may be required to demonstrate an effect on symptoms of depression in children with ASD.

I use my space not yours: Use of gesture space for referential identification among children with autism spectrum disorders

BackgroundSpeakers move their hands (gesture) when they talk. They indicate non-present referents by gesturing those referents in the same locations as the previous gestures for the same referents (spatially-consistent referent-identifying gestures). We examined whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), whose gesture development is slow, produce this kind of gesture in two circumstances: (1) demonstration task in which they had to follow experimenters’ established referents and spatial locations; and (2) spoken narrative task in which they created their own referents and locations. MethodSchool-aged children with ASD and typically-developing children (TD) demonstrated daily-life activities after the experimenter had orally described and gestured the spatial locations of non-present objects involved (demonstration task) and enacted the characters of a story from a picture (spoken narrative task). ResultsASD children produced fewer spatially-consistent referent-identifying gestures than TD children in the demonstration task. When not following experimenter’s locations, they established their own gestural locations and kept them consistent. They produced a comparable number of spatially-consistent referent-identifying gestures to their TD counterparts in the spoken narrative task. The ability to produce spatially-consistent referent-identifying gestures was negatively correlated to communication and social interaction skills in the demonstration task in both groups. However, such relationship was not found in the spoken narrative task in ASD children. ConclusionASD children have the ability to use consistent gestural locations to represent referents, but this ability may be limited when they have to follow others’ perspectives. Communication and social interaction abilities are crucial when taking others’ perspectives.

The Observation Scale for Autism (OSA): A New Screening Method to Detect Autism Spectrum Disorder before Age Three Years

Background: There is an increasing body of evidence that early interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) promote a positive development of social interaction. Thus, tools for early detection of ASD are warranted. Aim: Development of, and deciding cut-off-levels for, a new screening tool for ASD, the Observation Scale for Autism (OSA). The OSA was designed to be used at the free health check-up at 30 months, offered to all children in Sweden. Method: The OSA consists of 12 observations and takes less than 10 minutes to use. The performance of the test was investigated by assessing 37 children previously diagnosed ASD, 23 with Down Syndrome (DS) and 26 typically developing children (TD). Results: Children diagnosed with ASD showed statistically significant higher scores in all 12 items compared to TD children, and significantly higher in 10 items compared to the children with DS. Most of the observations in OSA seemed to cover specific symptoms of ASD, but two of the observations were more related to developmental level. The nine most discriminative items for ASD were identified, and among those, a cut-off limit was chosen (≥3 items). Among children with ASD, 34/37 reached the proposed cut off, compared to 0/26 and 4/23 among children in the TD and DS groups, respectively. Conclusion: The results suggest that the OSA discriminates children with ASD from TD children and children with DS. Using the suggested cut off, OSA provides high sensitivity for ASD (92%) with a very low false positive rate.

Development of Planning in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders and/or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Planning impairment is often observed in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but attempts to differentiate planning in ASD from children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing children (TD) have yielded inconsistent results. This study examined differences between these groups by focusing on development and analyzing performance in searching ahead several steps ("search depth") in addition to commonly used global performance measures in planning. A cross-sectional consecutive sample of 83 male patients (6-13 years), subgrouped as ASD without (ASD-, n = 18) or with comorbid ADHD (ASD+, n = 23), ADHD only (n = 42) and n = 42 TD children (6-13 years) were tested with the Tower-of-London-task. For global performance, ASD+ showed the lowest accuracy in younger children, but similar performance as TD at older ages, suggesting delayed development. Typically, a prolongation of planning time with increasing problem difficulty is observed in older children as compared to younger children. Here, this was most pronounced in ASD-, but under-expressed in ADHD. In contrast to global performance, effects of search depth were independent of age. ASD-, but not ASD+, showed increased susceptibility to raised demands on mentally searching ahead, along with the longest planning times. Thus, examining both global and search depth performance across ages revealed discernible patterns of planning between groups. Notably, the potentially detrimental impact of two diagnosed disorders does not add up in ASD+ in this task. Rather, our results suggest paradoxical enhancement of performance, ostensibly attributable to disruption of behavioral rigidity through increased impulsivity, which did not take place in ASD-. Autism Res 2016, 9: 739-751. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Impact of Multisensory Integration Deficits On Social Cognition in Childrens with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Introduction Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is characterized by deficits in three functional domains: language and communication, social reciprocity, and the presence of restricted interests/repetitive behaviours. There are also deficits in social cognition. When having a face-to-face conversation, a listener not only hears what a speaker is saying, but also sees the articulatory gestures. Speech signals needs then a multisensory processing. Impairments in multisensory perceptual binding given that hallmark features of the disorder include difficulties in speech, communication, and social interactions. Objectives We suggest that atypical multisensory processing in ASD may have an impact on speech perception and social processing. Aims Therefore we could observe differences in a delayed free recall, between an unisensorial and multisensoral stimulus. Methods Our pilot study measures free recall scores in 3 lists of words presentation after 30 minutes. In the first condition (CI) words are only listened to, in the second (CII) associated with the picture of a man's face and in the third (CIII) associated with the man speaking in video. Participants were 7- to 13-year-olds typically developing children (TD) (N = 19) and ASD children (N = 19). Results Our findings show that words recall is higher in CIII for TD children whereas ASD children recall more CI words. Conclusions Findings shows that multimodal information brings improvement in long term recall for TD children. In ASD group a better recall is observed with unimodale information. We suggest that multisensory integration deficits in ASD can impact learning of socials information and then social cognition.

Intra-Individual Response Variability Assessed by Ex-Gaussian Analysis may be a New Endophenotype for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Intra-individual variability of response times (RTisv) is considered as potential endophenotype for attentional deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Traditional methods for estimating RTisv lose information regarding response times (RTs) distribution along the task, with eventual effects on statistical power. Ex-Gaussian analysis captures the dynamic nature of RTisv, estimating normal and exponential components for RT distribution, with specific phenomenological correlates. Here, we applied ex-Gaussian analysis to explore whether intra-individual variability of RTs agrees with criteria proposed by Gottesman and Gould for endophenotypes. Specifically, we evaluated if normal and/or exponential components of RTs may (a) present the stair-like distribution expected for endophenotypes (ADHD > siblings > typically developing children (TD) without familiar history of ADHD) and (b) represent a phenotypic correlate for previously described genetic risk variants. This is a pilot study including 55 subjects (20 ADHD-discordant sibling-pairs and 15 TD children), all aged between 8 and 13 years. Participants resolved a visual Go/Nogo with 10% Nogo probability. Ex-Gaussian distributions were fitted to individual RT data and compared among the three samples. In order to test whether intra-individual variability may represent a correlate for previously described genetic risk variants, VNTRs at DRD4 and SLC6A3 were identified in all sibling-pairs following standard protocols. Groups were compared adjusting independent general linear models for the exponential and normal components from the ex-Gaussian analysis. Identified trends were confirmed by the non-parametric Jonckheere–Terpstra test. Stair-like distributions were observed for μ (p = 0.036) and σ (p = 0.009). An additional “DRD4-genotype” × “clinical status” interaction was present for τ (p = 0.014) reflecting a possible severity factor. Thus, normal and exponential RTisv components are suitable as ADHD endophenotypes.

Numerical estimation in individuals with Down syndrome.

We investigated numerical estimation in children with Down syndrome (DS) in order to assess whether their pattern of performance is tied to experience (age), overall cognitive level, or specifically impaired. Siegler and Opfer's (2003) number to position task, which requires translating a number into a spatial position on a number line, was administered to a group of 21 children with DS and to two control groups of typically developing children (TD), matched for mental and chronological age. Results suggest that numerical estimation and the developmental transition between logarithm and linear patterns of estimates in children with DS is more similar to that of children with the same mental age than to children with the same chronological age. Moreover linearity was related to the cognitive level in DS while in TD children it was related to the experience level.

The development of cognitive control in children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is caused by the most common human microdeletion, and it is associated with cognitive impairments across many domains. While impairments in cognitive control have been described in children with 22q11.2DS, the nature and development of these impairments are not clear. Children with 22q11.2DS and typically developing children (TD) were tested on four well-validated tasks aimed at measuring specific foundational components of cognitive control: response inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. Molecular assays were also conducted in order to examine genotype of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), a gene located within the deleted region in 22q11.2DS and hypothesized to play a role in cognitive control. Mixed model regression analyses were used to examine group differences, as well as age-related effects on cognitive control component processes in a cross-sectional analysis. Regression models with COMT genotype were also conducted in order to examine potential effects of the different variants of the gene. Response inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory were impaired in children with 22q11.2DS relative to TD children, even after accounting for global intellectual functioning (as measured by full-scale IQ). When compared with TD individuals, children with 22q11.2DS demonstrated atypical age-related patterns of response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Both groups demonstrated typical age-related associations with working memory. The results of this cross-sectional analysis suggest a specific aberration in the development of systems mediating response inhibition in a sub-set of children with 22q11.2DS. It will be important to follow up with longitudinal analyses to directly examine these developmental trajectories, and correlate neurocognitive variables with clinical and adaptive outcome measures.

Emotional Lexicon Understanding and Emotion Recognition: A Longitudinal Study in Children with Down Syndrome

Several studies have shown deficits in emotion recognition in children with Down syndrome (DS). However, most of these studies required the understanding of verbal labels of emotion in their instructions, which may have been a disadvantage for these children, given their common language difficulties. This study addressed this issue by investigating the abilities of children with DS to recognize emotion from emotional terms, using the same visual material as in a previous nonverbal study with which they had no difficulty. Their performance was compared to that of typically developing children (TD) and children with nonspecific intellectual disability (NSID) of the same developmental age, during a 3-year longitudinal follow-up. Results showed that the abilities of children with DS were significantly poorer and developed slower than those of TD children, but not children with NSID. These cross-sectional and longitudinal data tend to show that children with DS have a lack of understanding of emotional verbal labels. The implications of these findings for future emotion recognition studies in these children, notably the need to design nonverbal experiments using dynamic stimuli, are discussed. The consequences of a potential deficit affecting the emotional lexicon are also raised with a view to orienting therapeutic and educational support.

Self-perception, self-regulation and metacognition in adolescents with intellectual disability

This study compares self-perception of competences in 28 typically developing children (TD) aged 7-9 years and 32 adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) aged 11-16 years in special school, matched for mental age (MA). The links between self-perception, self-regulation in problem-solving and metacognition are investigated. Overall self-perception and self-perception of competences by domain do not differ significantly between the two groups. Self-perception of competences in specific domains, self-regulation and metacognition vary depending on MA and verbal comprehension in the two groups. ID adolescents attribute more importance to social acceptance than TD children. In both groups, positive links are identified between self-perception and importance attributed to domains. Performance, self-regulation and metacognition are lower in ID adolescents than in TD children. Positive links are obtained between self-perception of competences in specific domains and certain self-regulatory and metacognitive strategies, although these links differ in the two groups.