[Attention deficit and understanding of non-literal meanings: the interpretation of indirect speech acts and idioms]. / Déficit de atención y comprensión de significados no literales: interpretación de actos de habla indirectos y frases hechas.

AIM: To report on the oral comprehension of the non-literal meanings of indirect speech acts and idioms in everyday speech by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The subjects in this study consisted of a sample of 29 Chilean schoolchildren aged between 6 and 13 with ADHD and a control group of children without ADHD sharing similar socio-demographic characteristics. A quantitative method was utilised: comprehension was measured individually by means of an interactive instrument. The children listened to a dialogue taken from a cartoon series that included indirect speech acts and idioms and they had to choose one of the three options they were given: literal, non-literal or distracter. RESULTS: The children without ADHD identified the non-literal meaning more often, especially in idioms. Likewise, it should be pointed out that whereas the children without ADHD increased their scores as their ages went up, those with ADHD remained at the same point. CONCLUSIONS: ADHD not only interferes in the inferential comprehension of non-literal meanings but also inhibits the development of this skill in subjects affected by it.

Déficit de atención y comprensión de significados no literales: interpretación de actos de habla indirectos y frases hechas / Attention deficit and understanding of non-literal meanings: the interpretation of indirect speech acts and idioms

Objetivo. Informar acerca de la comprensión oral de los significados no literales de los actos de habla indirectos y de las frases hechas del habla cotidiana por parte de niños con trastorno de déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH). Sujetos y métodos. Los sujetos de este estudio corresponden a una muestra de 29 escolares chilenos de entre 6 y 13 años con TDAH y a un grupo control de niños sin TDAH con características sociodemográficas similares. El método utilizado fue cuantitativo: la comprensión se midió de forma individual mediante un instrumento interactivo. Los sujetos oían un diálogo de dibujos animados que incluía actos de habla indirectos y frases hechas y debían escoger entre tres opciones de interpretación: literal, no literal y distractor. Resultados. Los niños sin TDAH identificaron más el significado no literal, especialmente el de las frases hechas. Asimismo, cabe señalar que mientras los niños sin TDAH aumentaban la puntuación a medida que aumentaba la edad, aquellos con TDAH se quedaban estancados. Conclusión. El TDAH no sólo interfiere en la comprensión inferencial de los significados no literales, sino que también inhibe el desarrollo de esta habilidad en los sujetos que lo padecen

Aim. To report on the oral comprehension of the non-literal meanings of indirect speech acts and idioms in everyday speech by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Subjects and methods. The subjects in this study consisted of a sample of 29 Chilean schoolchildren aged between 6 and 13 with ADHD and a control group of children without ADHD sharing similar socio-demographic characteristics. A quantitative method was utilised: comprehension was measured individually by means of an interactive instrument. The children listened to a dialogue taken from a cartoon series that included indirect speech acts and idioms and they had to choose one of the three options they were given: literal, nonliteral or distracter. Results. The children without ADHD identified the non-literal meaning more often, especially in idioms. Likewise, it should be pointed out that whereas the children without ADHD increased their scores as their ages went up, those with ADHD remained at the same point. Conclusions. ADHD not only interferes in the inferential comprehension of nonliteral meanings but also inhibits the development of this skill in subjects affected by it

[Neurologic diseases, mental retardation and reduction in work capacity]. / Malattie neurologiche, ritardo mentale e riduzione della capacità di lavoro.

The reduction of working ability, because of disease, was considered in 1,053 subjects. 21 groups of maladies were found; the neurological disease and mental retardation (MR) caused various degrees of working inability in 416 subjects, i.e. in the 39.51% of the examined population; orthopaedic changes affected the 15.57% of the patients; psychic disorders determined some inability in 8.93% of the persons. The subjects unable to work receive, by Law, an economic help. This study was limited to neurological patients and to subjects mentally retarded. The working ability was reduced by 5 types of disturbances: neuromotor pathology, mental retardation, mental deterioration and dementia, epilepsy, other neurological diseases. The neuromotor pathology affected 163 subjects; the types of symptomatology: hemiplegia; it was found in 71 patients; 62 times it was the result of cerebrovascular disease; in 4 patients it was caused by a hypoxic-ischaemic pre-perinatal encephalopathy. 43 patients affected by cerebrovascular disease lost their personal autonomy, i.e. they could no longer do the activities of daily living (ADL); 7 patients lost their working ability; 12 subjects kept some ability to work. The hemiplegias which struck after 50 years of age were caused by cerebrovascular disease; paraplegia: 28 paraplegic patients have been seen; the aetiology was: poliomyelitis in 8 subjects; MS in 5 patients; ALS in 2 patients; in 13 patients the aetiology was unknown. 6 patients resulted unable to work; 8 persons kept some working ability; 14 patients lost the ability to do the ADL; tetraplegia, or double/bilateral hemiplegia, was found in 20 patients; the aetiology: poliomyelitis in 4 patients; pre-perinatal hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy in 4 patients; 3 patients of MS; lesion of the cervical spinal cord because of breech delivery in 2 patients; the aetiology was not known in 7 persons. The ability to do the ADL was lost in 17 patients; 3 subjects kept some working ability. Double or bilateral hemiplegia (Little disease) was the model of neuromotor deficit subsequent natal encephalopathy (Infantile Cerebral Palsy, PCI); brachial plexus paralysis was only found from obstetrical (i.e. natal) origin; poliomyelitis and PKU resulted prevented as of 10 years. Mental Retardation (MR) was considered a borderline pathology between neurology and psychiatry; it included 162 subjects: in patients with severe MR a pre-perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy was found in 40.4% of the cases; in patients affected by moderate or light MR the same encephalopathy was found in the 11.3% of the subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)