Affiliation:
1. University of Castilla-La Mancha: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Abstract
AbstractBackground One of the most challenging linguistic areas in people with Williams Syndrome throughout their evolutionary stage is the development of pragmatic skills. The research conducted so far highlights specific problems concerning adaptation to the linguistic context and interlocutors, language comprehension, as well as other aspects interfering with verbal communication. However, until now, most scientific evidence has been based on personal assessments of this group. In a complementary manner, the goal of this study was to discover the level of pragmatic skills of people with Williams Syndrome from the point of view of the families. The sample consisted of 34 families belonging to the Williams Syndrome Association of Spain. The assessment instrument was the Pragmatic Awareness Questionnaire, which includes 26 items related to different aspects that are part of the pragmatic area on a Likert-type scale. Results The results indicate that generally speaking, families consider there to be a regular to low level in all the areas assessed. The strong points seem to lie in the paralinguistic aspects, while the weakest factors are those related to the understanding of figurative language. Conclusions Therefore, it is necessary to continue insisting on the importance of language intervention in this group throughout its development in order to improve its level of linguistic competence.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC
Reference68 articles.
1. Características Morfosintácticas de Cuatro Afectados por el Síndrome de Williams;Agüero J;Revista Síndrome de Williams,1998
2. Comportamiento, lenguaje y cognición de algunos síndromes que cursan con discapacidad intelectual;Alonso MIG;Revista INFAD de Psicología International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology,2017
3. Fluent language with impaired pragmatics in children with Williams syndrome;Asada K;J Neurolinguistics,2010
4. Neurobiology of social behavior abnormalities in autism and Williams syndrome;Barak B;Nat Neurosci,2016
5. Neuropsychological, neurological, and neuroanatomical profile of Williams syndrome;Bellugi U;Am J Med Genet,1990