LANGUAGE-DEVELOPMENT IN WILLIAMS-SYNDROME - A CASE-STUDY

The present study focuses on the first stages of linguistic developmen t of an Italian girl with Williams Syndrome (WS), followed longitudina lly through weekly observations from age 2:6 to age 4:10, and systemat ically tested every two months. In all three areas of language conside red-vocabulary, morphology, and syntax-some similarities but also some interesting differences with respect to normal development were noted . In particular the WS child did not seem to master certain aspects of Italian morphology and syntax and her production varied widely depend ing on context. Our data confirm a delayed and partially atypical prof ile of language development in WS subjects.