What do we know about sociocognitive development of children with pre/perinatal lesions?

Abstract

There is a great deal of data on the cognitive and linguistic development of children with pre/perinatal lesions of the brain in literature, but there has been little research into their socio-cognitive development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess early sociocognitive abilities in children with pre/perinatal brain lesions and compare the results with the sociocognitive abilities of children with typical development. The study included 12 children with peri-intraventricular haemorrhages and/or hypoxic-ischemic brain lesions (aged 12 months) and 12 children without neurodevelopmental risk who were involved in wider neuropediatric, speech and language and psychological follow-up. The children were assessed and recorded interacting with their parents in the Developmental Neurolinguistics Laboratory. Data regarding the child’s communicative behavior in everyday situations was gathered using structural interviews with the parents. The results indicate that children with early brain lesions show a normal pattern of development of social cognition but also that they reach the milestones of normal sociocognitive development somewhat later in early development.