Hsu, C.F., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2008). Language and Williams Syndrome. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 191-204. 

 [Social Sciences Citation Index]

[Arts & Humanties Citation Index]

                                                         Abstract

Most aspects of human life – from gene expression, to brain structure/function, to underlying linguistic and cognitive processes, through to overt language production and comprehension behaviours – are the result of dynamic developmental processes, in which timing plays a crucial role. So, the study of language acquisition in developmental disorders such as Williams syndrome needs to change from the still widely-held view that developmental disorders can be accounted for in terms of spared versus impaired modules, to one which takes serious account of the fact that the infant cortex passes from an initial state of high regional interconnectivity to a subsequent state of progressively increasing specialisation and localisation of functional brain networks.  With such early interconnectivity in mind, developmental neuroscientists must explore the possibility that a small perturbation in low-level processes in one part of the brain very early in development can result in serious deficits in higher-level processes in another part of the brain later in development. Therefore in profiling developmental disorders of language such as in Williams syndrome, it is vital to start in early infancy, from which to trace the full trajectory of the interactions of language and other cognitive processes across infancy, toddlerhood and childhood, through to adolescence and adulthood.

(Full paper is available upon request.)