Psychometric Properties and Validation of the Italian Version of Ages & Stages Questionnaires Third Edition.

Objectives: The Ages & Stages Questionnaires Third Version (ASQ-3) identifies the risk of developmental delay in children aged 1 to 66 months. The aim of this study was to determine a reliable and valid instrument for the Italian population to enable the screening of children's development. Methods: Data from 2278 Italian children (age range: 1-66 months) were used to evaluate item discrimination power using the corrected item-total correlation. Internal consistency was analyzed by Cronbach's alpha scores and a Confirmative Factor Analysis was conducted to test the factor structure of the test. Data were also collected to examine the ASQ-3 test-retest reliability and concurrent validity, which was investigated using the Griffiths Scales of Child Development, Third Edition, the Peabody Developmental Motor Scale, Second Edition, and the Developmental Profile, Third Edition tools. In order to evaluate discriminant validity, differences between typical development children and several clinical groups have been performed. Finally, two different cut-off scores have been proposed. Results: The results showed that the questionnaires are composed of high-quality items; the original factor structure has been confirmed and strong Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients between the overall and the total for each domain (ranging from 0.73 to 0.88). The Italian version of the ASQ-3 had adequate internal consistency and a strong agreement between observations with two weeks' intervals. Moreover, the test showed a high discriminant validity due to the possibility of fully discriminating between typical development children and several clinical groups. Finally, two different cut-off scores have been identified using ROC curves in order to have a screening and a diagnostic cut-off value. Conclusion: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of ASQ-3 questionnaires. We demonstrated the validity of the ASQ-3 and determined new cut-off scores for Italian children. Early identification and accurate assessment are important starting points to better understand and anticipate the needs of children and their link to services.

Neurodevelopmental Impairment As the Main Phenotypic Hallmark Associated with the Translocation t(7;10)(7p22.3;q26.11).

Reported here is a novel patient carrying an unbalanced t (10q26.11-q26.3; 7p22.3) and presenting with a severe intellectual disability with autistic features, abnormalities of muscle tone, and a drug-responsive epilepsy. The prominence of neurological and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the clinical phenotype highlights a possible pathogenic role for different genes in the involved regions. Hypothetical mechanisms may include a possible gene dosage effect for DOCK1 and/or haploinsufficiency of PRKAR1B SUN1, ADAP1 , and GPER1 .

Morphing Task: The Emotion Recognition Process in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Recognizing a person's identity is a fundamental social ability; facial expressions, in particular, are extremely important in social cognition. Individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display impairment in the recognition of emotions and, consequently, in recognizing expressions related to emotions, and even their identity. The aim of our study was to compare the performance of participants with ADHD, ASD, and typical development (TD) with regard to both accuracy and speed in the morphing task and to determine whether the use of pictures of digitized cartoon faces could significantly facilitate the process of emotion recognition in ASD patients (particularly for disgust). This study investigated the emotion recognition process through the use of dynamic pictures (human faces vs. cartoon faces) created with the morphing technique in three pediatric populations (7-12 years old): ADHD patients, ASD patients, and an age-matched control sample (TD). The Chi-square test was used to compare response latency and accuracy between the three groups in order to determine if there were statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the recognition of basic emotions. The results demonstrated a faster response time in neurotypical children compared to ASD and ADHD children, with ADHD participants performing better than ASD participants on the same task. The overall accuracy parameter between the ADHD and ASD groups did not significantly differ.