EVALUATION OF ORO-PHONATORY DEVELOPMENT AND ARTICULATORY DIADOCHOKINESIS IN A SAMPLE OF ITALIAN CHILDREN USING THE PROTOCOL OF ROBBINS & KLEE

The factorial structure of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS; Spence, 1997 ) was examined in a community sample of 1,397 Italian children from 8 to 10 years old. Sex and age differences as regards anxiety symptoms were also analyzed. The convergent validity of the SCAS was explored through correlations with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997 ). The use of confirmatory factor analysis supported the six correlated factor model of the SCAS with only minor differences compared to the original work by Spence (1997 ), and it was therefore named SCAS-it. Modifications to the original SCAS were supported by methodologically, theoretically, and culturally based arguments. The internal consistency of the SCAS-it was acceptable. Females displayed significantly higher levels of anxiety symptoms than males, while age differences were nonsignificant. Positive correlations were found between the SCAS-it and selected subscales of the SDQ. The results support the SCAS model, with few exceptions that do not threaten the utility of Spence’s tool.

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PRIMARY PREVENTION REDUCES THE RISK OF CARDITIS IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE RHEUMATIC FEVER. A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON 53 ITALIAN CHILDREN

10.26226/morressier.56e174d5d462b8028d88a91a ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Marco Cattalini

Keyword(s):

Retrospective Study ◽

Primary Prevention ◽

Rheumatic Fever ◽

Acute Rheumatic Fever ◽

Italian Children

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AB0865 Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms Are Not Associated with The Risk of Kawasaki Disease (KD) in A Group of Italian Children

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases ◽

10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-eular.4709 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 75 (Suppl 2) ◽

pp. 1198.1-1198

Author(s):

F. Falcini ◽

F. Marini ◽

S. Stagi ◽

D. Rigante ◽

G. Lepri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Kawasaki Disease ◽

Vitamin D Receptor ◽

Italian Children

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Similar use of intonation structure in early implanted children and hearing children: The case of Italian

First Language ◽

10.1177/0142723720986052 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014272372098605

Author(s):

Paola Zanchi ◽

Laura Zampini ◽

Luca Pancani ◽

Roberta Berici ◽

Mariapaola D’Imperio

Keyword(s):

Chronological Age ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Control Groups ◽

Generation Task ◽

Story Generation ◽

Italian Children ◽

Children's Stories ◽

Hearing Children ◽

First Time

This work presents an analysis of the intonation competence in a group of Italian children with cochlear implant (CI). Early cochlear implantation plays a crucial role in language development for children who were born deaf in that it favours the acquisition of complex aspects of language, such as the intonation structure. A story-generation task, the Narrative Competence Task, was used to elicit children’s stories. Narrations produced by 8 early implanted children and by 16 children with typically hearing (TH) (8 one-to-one matched considering the chronological age, TH-CA, and 8 considering the hearing age, TH-HA) were analysed considering intonation features (pitch accent distribution, edge tones and inner breaks). Results show that children with CI produce intonation patterns that are similar to those of both TH-CA and TH-HA control groups. Few significant differences were found only between children with CI and children matched for TH-HA in the use of rising edge tones. These results are discussed in light of the role of cognitive development in using prosody and intonation and the importance of early CI implantation. This study shows for the first time that intonation use of early implanted children is not different from that of typically developing children with the same chronological age.

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Sensitivity to distributional properties of the orthography in the spelling of Italian children with dyslexia

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021821998925 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182199892

Author(s):

Chiara Valeria Marinelli ◽

Marika Iaia ◽

Cristina Burani ◽

Paola Angelelli

Keyword(s):

Low Frequency ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Lexical Knowledge ◽

Priming Effects ◽

Lexical Priming ◽

Distributional Properties ◽

Developing Readers ◽

Priming Paradigm ◽

Italian Children

The study examines statistical learning in the spelling of Italian children with dyslexia and typically developing readers by studying their sensitivity to probabilistic cues in phoneme-grapheme mappings. In the first experiment children spelled to dictation regular words and words with unpredictable spelling that contained either a high- or a low-frequency (i.e., typical or atypical) sound-spelling mappings. Children with dyslexia were found to rely on probabilistic cues in writing stimuli with unpredictable spelling to a greater extent than typically developing children. The difficulties of children with dyslexia on words with unpredictable spelling were limited to those containing atypical mappings. In the second experiment children spelled new stimuli, that is, pseudowords, containing phonological segments with unpredictable mappings. The interaction between lexical knowledge and reliance on probabilistic cues was examined through a lexical priming paradigm in which pseudowords were primed by words containing related typical or atypical sound-to-spelling mappings. In spelling pseudowords, children with dyslexia showed sensitivity to probabilistic cues in the phoneme-to-grapheme mapping but lexical priming effects were also found, although to a smaller extent than in typically developing readers. The results suggest that children with dyslexia have a limited orthographic lexicon but are able to extract regularities from the orthographic system and rely on probabilistic cues in spelling words and pseudowords.

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Relative Validity of an Italian EPIC Food Frequency Questionnaire for Dietary Factors in Children and Adolescents. A Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute Study

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13041245 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1245

Author(s):

Inge Huybrechts ◽

Rossella Miglio ◽

Lorenza Mistura ◽

Sara Grioni ◽

Irene Pozzebon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

Food Frequency Questionnaire ◽

Dietary Factors ◽

Food Groups ◽

Food Frequency ◽

Relative Validity ◽

Diary Method ◽

Italian Children ◽

The Impact

Dietary factors play a major role in the development of non-communicable diseases, however little is known regarding the impact of nutrition on rare diseases like sarcomas. This Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute study aimed to evaluate the relative validity of a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) to measure the consumption of foods in comparison with a 3-days diary diet in a healthy Italian student population aged between 12 and 17 years. An extended version (including food groups for children) of the semi-quantitative FFQ used in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) was administered. The validity of the FFQ was assessed by comparing the intakes from the FFQ against the 3-day diary method. 254 Italian subjects were included in the analyses: 128 females; 126 males; 116 from High Secondary School (14–17 years); 138 from Low Secondary School (12–13 years). Mean and median intakes are overall higher in the FFQs than in the food diaries. Spearman correlations adjusted for within-person variability were highest for legumes, vegetables and coffee/tea (>0.5), followed by potatoes, meat, fruits, breakfast cereals, biscuits and candies, and milk/yoghurts (>0.4). Moderate correlations were found for alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, juices, and grains (>0.3). For some food groups, such as fish, potatoes, and bread, correlations tend to become higher when stratifying the analyses for age group. These results demonstrate that the adapted EPIC COS FFQ validated in Italian adults is also appropriate and well understood by Italian children and adolescents.

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Obesity, Blood Pressure, and Intraocular Pressure: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italian Children

Obesity Facts ◽

10.1159/000514096 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Claudia Pileggi ◽

Rosa Papadopoli ◽

Caterina De Sarro ◽

Carmelo Giuseppe Angelo Nobile ◽

Maria Pavia

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Intraocular Pressure ◽

School Children ◽

Adult Population ◽

Paediatric Population ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Drinking Habits ◽

Physical Examinations ◽

Italian Children

Introduction: Several studies in the adult population have shown that obesity is an independent risk factor for elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), whereas data in the paediatric population are sparse and controversial. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), and IOP in healthy school children. Methods: The survey was conducted among a random sample of 8-year-old Italian students. Data were collected on their health status and behaviours related to obesity (physical activity, food and drinking habits, etc.). Physical examinations, conducted at school, included measurements of height, weight, BP, and IOP. Results: Five hundred and seventy-six subjects were recruited (92.8% response rate); 42.4% were overweight or obese, 58.9% consumed inadequate daily servings of fruit and vegetables, and 87.5% were involved in sedentary activities. Elevated BP/hypertension (HTN) affected 3.6% and high IOP was revealed in 12.5% of the children. In the multivariate analysis, elevated BP/HTN was the only significant determinant of ocular HTN (OR 5.36, 95% CI 1.95–14.73, p = 0.001). Conclusions: Our results show that high IOP affects 12.5% of 8-year-old school children and appears to be associated with high BP related to a high BMI.

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