Читать книгу The Handbook of Language and Speech Disorders - Группа авторов - Страница 73

Considering the studies reported above with regard to language and communication abilities for these two genetic syndromes, Williams and Down syndrome, points to uneven neurocognitive profiles and areas of relative strengths and weaknesses in each of the populations. There is no systematic and consistent evidence from the two disorders for clear dissociations between different cognitive skills, which may partially be due to heterogeneity within each of the syndromes, possibly small sample sizes, different methodologies, and other yet unknown factors. It is very important that inquiry into language and communication impairments in genetic syndromes continues if we are to understand the effects of genes on the development of cognitive profiles. As pointed out by Rice, Warren, and Betz (2005), although we have a lot of information with regard to individual diagnostic profiles of different syndromes, there are few comparative studies, and therefore there is much need for systematic comparisons across disorders if we are to fully understand what is common across conditions and what is syndrome‐specific, so that we can clarify the nature of language, communication, and other cognitive impairments. One way forward would definitely be longitudinal studies detailing how language is acquired in the context of cognitive development, and how development of language and communication skills proceeds and interacts with other cognitive domains in different disorders. In order to inform theories of language acquisition and address more directly the debate with regard to the neural specialization of different modules from birth, it is crucial to examine language and cognitive abilities from as near to the infant start‐state as possible. This kind of research has started to emerge and has the potential to make a significant difference to existing knowledge.