A Case Study with Williams-Beuren Syndrome

Abstract

This case study examines the performance of a Greek child with Williams-Beuren syndrome and a group of ten typically developing children whose chronological age is equivalent to the mental age of the WS case. The study concerns the field of pediatrics and linguistics. The comparison among the WS case and the typically developing (TD) children is based on the elicitation Perfective Past Tense Test (PPTT) which examines the distinctions between perfective (simple past) or imperfective (past continuous) forms since the conjugation of simple past involves the existence of the aspectual marker –s as suffix. This distinction is conducted under the model of dual-mechanism account [1] that suggests the existence of marker –s, as result of a rule-based process of participants. This case study brings into effect the assumption that cannot explain the model of “different developmental trajectories” in disordered populations [2]. The present results indicate a clear preference of the WS case to sigmatic forms and an unexpected preference only for Novel non-sigmatic verbs to analogies.