Syntaxe et métasyntaxe dans le syndrome de l'X-fragile et le syndrome de Down

From articulation to ideas, all aspects of language are strongly linked. There are now several hypotheses to explain these links, their synergy and their developmental sequences in 2-year-old to 10-year-old children (Ferguson, 1978; Schwartz et al. 1980; Panagos, 1982; Caramata & Schwartz, 1985). The modularity of language is the most well-known of these hypotheses.
The analysis of language difficulties in SLI children (Specific Language Impairment children) with normal cognitive abilities and in mentally retarded children (with genetic pathologies) gives us the opportunity to test these different hypotheses. The language specificities of these different syndromes allow us to analyse the reciprociqual and sequential effects of the different language components. This procedure has a theorical and fundamental interest but also a practical interest. Effectively, it leads to numerous applications in speech and language pathology (concerning the pathologies definition as well as the hierarchisation of the therapeutical goals and the construction of the therapeutical programs).