Project 4. Neurodevelopmental Studies of Language and LiteracyThe goal of the Program Project is to study hierarchical levels of neural processing and cognition to identifythe specific underpinnings of cognitive deficits in children (ages 7-10) with different neurodevelopmentaldisorders - Specific Language Impairment (LI), Early Unilateral Focal Brain Lesions (FL), High FunctioningAutism (HFA), and Williams Syndrome (WS). Within this framework, the role of Project 4 will be to examinelanguage in the auditory and visual modalities (spoken and written) at varying levels of complexity. Ouroverarching goal is to understand the relations between the development of literacy and spoken language,their relation to other cognitive systems and their neural substrates. Literacy, the ability to read and write, iscrucial for successful school performance and adult life; moreover, literacy represents the major linguisticchallenge for school age children. Our studies over the past 20 years have identified differential trajectoriesfor productive and receptive spoken language in FL, LI, WS and TD, and they display distinctive profiles forspoken language development. However, we know little about the development of reading and writing (thatis, language in the visual domain) in these same populations. In this renewal, we examine how these spokenlanguage profiles map onto literacy to test competing developmental hypotheses of continuity anddiscontinuity in the acquisition of literacy.
Aim 1 : Developing Literacy: we will test these competinghypotheses by comparing performance on spoken and written language, both expressive and receptive. Wewill establish group profiles, identifying strengths and weaknesses at different levels of language complexity(phonological, word, sentence, discourse).
Aim 2 : Language for Social Purposes focuses on the socialaspects of discourse (with Project 3).
Aim 3 : The Role of Sensory Processing and Working Memorycompares our profiles of language and literacy with outcomes from Projects 2 and 3, testingcontinuity/discontinuity of language proficiency with early sensory, working memory and spatial attentionalprocesses.
Aim 4 : The Neural Underpinnings of Language will test the relationship between Project 4language outcomes and measures of brain anatomy to test two competing models of language developmentand organization, the Modular and Distributed Models. Together, our results will yield profiles of languageand literacy and their relations in typical and clinical groups, identifying the degree to which impairments inhigher-level abilities are linked to deficits at more basic levels of language. Within the context of the center,our studies will permit testing our hypotheses across other cognitive domains as well as mapping the neuralsubstrates serving these functions. Insights from these studies will add critical knowledge to ourunderstanding of neurodevelopment as well as contribute to more informed diagnostic and treatmentmethods.
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