Williams Syndrome (WS) is a developmental disorder typified by deficits in visuospatial cognition. To understand the nature of this deficit, we characterized how people with WS perceive visual orientation, a fundamental ability related to object identification. We compared WS participants to typically developing children (3-6 years of age) and…

This research takes mathematics as a model for investigating the definitions, identification, classification and characteristics of a group of gifted student related to the notion of "dual-exceptionality". An extensive process using qualitative and quantitative methods was conducted by a multidisciplinary team to develop and implement a…

We investigated procedural learning in 18 children with basal ganglia (BG) lesions or dysfunctions of various aetiologies, using a visuo-motor learning test, the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task, and a cognitive learning test, the Probabilistic Classification Learning (PCL) task. We compared patients with early (less than 1 year old, n=9), later…

The present study focused on the mechanism subserving the production of kinematic patterns in 21 children with 22q11.2DS (mean age=9.6 [plus or minus] 1.9; mean FSIQ=73.05 [plus or minus] 10.2) and 21 age- and IQ-matched control children (mean age=9.6 [plus or minus] 1.9; mean FSIQ=73.38 [plus or minus] 12.0) when performing a visuo-manual…

Background: Half of pediatric-onset OCD cases remit by adulthood. Studies have demonstrated that initial response to pharmacotherapy, age of onset, prominent hoarding symptoms, and the presence of comorbid tic disorders are associated with long-term outcome. Our goal was to examine the association between childhood performance on…

This study explored the cognitive performance of children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and/or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV. Participants were 62 children with ages between 9 years 8 months and 12 years 7 months. These children were placed into one of the…

The validity of Baddeley's working memory model within the typically developing population, was tested. However, it is not clear if this model also holds in children and adolescents with mild to, borderline intellectual disabilities (ID; IQ score 55-85). The main purpose of this study was therefore, to explore the model's validity in this…

Previous research suggests individuals with autism may be less influenced by a three-dimensional interpretation when copying line drawings (Sheppard et al. "J Autism Dev Disord" 37:1913-1924, 2007). The current research aimed to determine whether this reduced dimensionality effect extends to drawings of an actual object. Twenty-four children and…

The present study examined fixation frequency and duration during an Embedded Figures Test (EFT) in an effort to better understand the attentional and perceptual processes by which individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) achieve accelerated EFT performance. In particular, we aimed to elucidate differences in the patterns of eye-movement in…

This study aimed to investigate the development of audiovisual integration in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Audiovisual integration was measured using the McGurk effect in children with ASD aged 7-16 years and typically developing children (control group) matched approximately for age, sex, nonverbal ability and verbal ability.…

Aim: To relate visual field function to brain morphology in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Visual field function was assessed using the confrontation technique and Goldmann perimetry in 29 children (15 males, 14 females; age range 7-17y, median age 11y) with unilateral CP classified at Gross Motor Function Classification…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly fail to show contagious yawning, but the mechanism underlying the lack of contagious yawning is still unclear. The current study examined whether instructed fixation on the eyes modulates contagious yawning in ASD. Thirty-one children with ASD, as well as 31 age-matched typically…

The current study examined the abilities of children (6 and 8 years of age) and adults to freely categorize and label dynamic bodily/facial expressions designed to portray happiness, pleasure, anger, irritation, and neutrality and controlled for their level of valence, arousal, intensity, and authenticity. Multidimensional scaling and cluster…

The objective of this study was to analyze the process and product of handwriting among children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) in comparison to those of Typically Developing (TD) children. Children with NF1 are at risk for some cognitive deficits, a wide range of deficits in perceptual skills and, motor and visual-motor integration skills…

The current study investigated the neurobiological role of white matter in visuospatial versus linguistic processing abilities in autism using diffusion tensor imaging. We examined differences in white matter integrity between high-functioning children with autism (HFA) and typically developing controls (CTRL), in relation to the groups' response…