Dificultades de acceso al sistema de procesamiento linguístico en diferentes poblaciones infantiles / Difficulties of access to the language processing system in different pediatric populations

El estudio del lenguaje en niños presupone la puesta en marcha de un marco teórico que permita indagar en procesos de la evolución lingüística, con un criterio conceptual, abierto y sensible a los diferentes signos y síntomas que exhiben los niños en su desarrollo. La Psicología Cognitiva ofrece un marco de referencia que se ha considerado útil para ese objetivo. En ese contexto, considerar que la mente humana, con sede en el cerebro, está constituida por módulos o procesadores de diferente información, con aptitud de registro bastante independiente entre ellos, conectados por accesos, admite su aplicación para analizar cómo procede un sistema individual frente a los distintos estímulos lingüísticos que recibe. Con ese criterio se analizaron las producciones de poblaciones portadoras de cuadros diferentes: Neurofibromatosis 1, Síndrome de Prader – Willi, Trastorno Generalizado del Desarrollo y Trastorno Específico del Lenguaje, de manera de interpretar la modalidad particular de procesamiento de cada una, presuponiendo el hallazgo de marcadores clínicos descriptivos de las dificultades de acceso al sistema lingüístico.

The study of language in children implies the need for atheoretical framework that allows investigation of the pro-cesses of language development from a conceptual point ofview, open and sensitive to the different signs and symp-toms children present with during growth. Cognitive psy-chology provides a reference framework that is considereduseful for this aim. In this context, the human mind, loca-ted in the brain, is considered to consist of modules or pro-cessors for different kinds of information with a quite inde-pendent capacity of registration among them, connectedby accesses. This construct allows us to analyze how eachindividual system proceeds in the face of the different lin-guistic stimuli it receives. Based on this construct, langua-ge production of children with different pathologies wereanalyzed: Neurofibromatosis type 1, Prader–Willi syndro-me, pervasive developmental disorder, and specific lan-guage impairment, to evaluate the specific way of proces-sing in each of these conditions, taking into account thefinding of descriptive clinical markers of difficulties of accessto the language system.

[Longitudinal study of a group of 56 infants with a birth weight of less than 1500 gms: mortality and neurological sequelae in relation to progress in intensive care technics]. / Studio longitudinale di un gruppo di 56 bambini con peso alla nascita less than or equal to 1500 grammi: mortalità e sequele neurologiche in relazione ai progressi nelle tecniche di terapia intensiva.

56 very low-birth-weight (less than or equal to 1500 gm) infants were admitted in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit between january 1978 and december 1981. Mortality of these infants in the first year of life decreased from 50% in 1978 to 32% in 1981. Our study confirms that mortality is significantly higher in transported infants. As to those born in our Hospital, mortality is markedly higher for breech delivery than for cephalic delivery or caesarian section. The amelioration of intensive care techniques, i.e. continuous transcutaneous PaO2 monitoring, orotracheal intubation at birth and improved respiratory care, markedly reduced the percentage of children with neuromotor pathology (from 43% in 1978 to 0% in 1981 in 16 survivors). Neurological follow-up was performed by serial controls until at least 2 years of age; Apgar scores and blood gas values are reported along with follow-up results to evaluate prognostic significance. Duration of orotracheal intubation, isolette requirement and feeding schedules are briefly discussed.