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Language abilities and gestural communication in a girl with bilateral perisylvian syndrome: a clinical and rehabilitative follow-up

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Abstract

We present the neuropsychological and linguistic follow-up of a girl with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria during 4 years of gestural and verbal speech therapy. Some researchers have suggested that children with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria mentally fail to reach the syntactic phase and do not acquire a productive morphology. This patient achieved a mean length of utterance in signs/gestures of 3.4, a syntactic phase of completion of the nuclear sentence and the use of morphological modifications. We discuss the link between gesture and language and formulate hypotheses on the role of gestural input on the reorganization of compensatory synaptic circuits.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Tiziana Casalino for her help with data transcription and coding and Marina Denegri for editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Developmental Neurology Division, Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico “Carlo Besta”, via Celoria, 11, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Bruna Molteni, Daniela Sarti, Gloria Airaghi, Giulia Mantegazza, Giovanni Baranello, Federica Riva, Veronica Saletti, Nicoletta Paruta & Daria Riva

  2. Neuroepidemiology Unit, Fondazione I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Neurologico “Carlo Besta”, via Celoria, 11, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Chiara Falcone

Authors
  1. Bruna Molteni
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  2. Daniela Sarti
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  3. Gloria Airaghi
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  5. Giulia Mantegazza
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  6. Giovanni Baranello
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  7. Federica Riva
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  10. Daria Riva
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Correspondence to Bruna Molteni.

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Molteni, B., Sarti, D., Airaghi, G. et al. Language abilities and gestural communication in a girl with bilateral perisylvian syndrome: a clinical and rehabilitative follow-up. Neurol Sci 31, 471–481 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-010-0309-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-010-0309-2

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