Clinical, developmental and serotonemia phenotyping of a sample of 70 Italian patients with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome.

Background: Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) is caused by monoallelic loss or inactivation at the SHANK3 gene, located in human chr 22q13.33, and is often associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Objectives: To assess the clinical and developmental phenotype in a novel sample of PMS patients, including for the first time auxometric trajectories and serotonin blood levels.

Psychological health of mothers and siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders during COVID-19 pandemic: new evidence in Italian families.

Background And Aim: Psychological challenges are well recognized in families with a child with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Instead, less is known about the effects of traumatic scenarios, such as COVID-19, on the psychological health of these families. The main aim of this research was to study the psychological health of both mothers and typically developing (TD) siblings of children with ASD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Moderator Effect of Subthreshold Autistic Traits on the Relationship between Quality of Life and Internet Addiction.

People with sub-threshold autistic traits (SATs) are more prone to develop addictive behaviors such the ones linked to Internet abuse. The restrictions for anti-COVID-19 distancing measures encourage social isolation and, consequently, increase screen time, which may lead to Internet addiction (IA). However, a better quality of life (QoL) may have function as a protective factor against the development of IA.

Specific learning disorders in young adults: Investigating pragmatic abilities and their relationship with theory of mind, executive functions and quality of life.

Background: Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are lifelong conditions often associated with language difficulties, executive dysfunctions, and psychological problems. Previous research has shown that communicative-pragmatic ability may be impaired in SLD. However, the role of other cognitive abilities in explaining pragmatic difficulties has still not been fully investigated.

Morpho-Syntactic Deficit in Children with Cochlear Implant: Consequence of Hearing Loss or Concomitant Impairment to the Language System?

Background: Among implanted children with similar duration of auditory deprivation and clinical history, the morpho-syntactic skills remain highly variable, suggesting that other fundamental factors may determine the linguistic outcomes of these children, beyond their auditory recovery. The present study analyzed the morpho-syntactic discrepancies among three children with cochlear implant (CI), with the aim of understanding if morpho-syntactic deficits may be characterized as a domain-specific language disorder.

Method: The three children (mean age = 7.

Language and Pragmatics Across Neurodevelopmental Disorders: An Investigation Using the Italian Version of CCC-2.

Impairments in structural language and pragmatics are well recognized in different neurodevelopmental disorders, yet in clinical work the discrimination of children with various language difficulties into different diagnostic profile is still a major challenge. Using the CCC-2 questionnaire this study assesses and compares language competences in a sample of Italian children (aged 8-10) with typical development (n = 26) and in children with different neurodevelopmental conditions: high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (n = 19), Language Disorder with associated Developmental Dyslexia (n = 23), Developmental Dyslexia without linguistic impairments (n = 21). The results supported the validity of CCC2 as screening measure that is able to distinguish children with communication impairments from non-impaired peers.