Background: Cross-linguistic studies on time reference in highly inflected languages have shown that tense inflection is particularly vulnerable in agrammatic speakers. According to the PAstDIscourseLInking Hypothesis (PADILIH), an asymmetry is predicted between past and non-past forms, due to the extra discourse linkage the former type imposes. Aims: The present paper investigates whether Greek agrammatic speakers are able to correctly use tense markers with respect to the relevant reference point, analyzing data from three different production tasks to understand how performance is modulated by different methodologies. Methods & Procedures: seven agrammatic speakers and a control group participated in three experimental tasks (a) an elicited picture description, (b) a semi-standardized interview and (c) a sentence production priming task. Outcomes & Results: Different outcomes were elicited across different tasks. Agrammatic speakers tended to accurately use past tense forms when they could freely select the content of their narration, as in the case of the two narrative tasks (the elicited picture description, and the semi-standardized interview). However, the same participants experienced significant difficulties referring to past and future events when using a sentence production priming task. Consequently, the predictions of PADILIH are not fully supported by the Greek data, given that, in addition to past tense deficits, the future tense was also severely compromised. Conclusions: Our data clearly suggest that language performance is affected by the processing demands placed on the patient’s linguistic system by the experimental task used. Moreover, future tense deficits in Greek are interpreted as difficulties in the processing of conversational implicatures.

Studies on the processing of non-active (NACT) voice have indicated that passive sentences are more difficult to comprehend and require more time to process. Children with Reading Difficulties (RDs) face problems with sentence comprehension, which are often attributed to phonological processing, working memory, syntactic awareness limitations, or a maturation delay. Using an online self-paced reading task, we investigated the effect of voice morphology and argument structure on sentence processing in 3 groups of participants; 30 children RDs, 28 Age-Matched (AM) controls without RDs, and 28 young Beginning Readers (BRs). Our results suggest that although the RDs and BR groups present similar reading times, their reading patterns differ qualitatively. Beginning Readers experienced greater processing delays when processing NACT structures, suggesting that they have not yet fully grasped the properties of the various NACT verbs. However, the RDs group presents effects not found in the BR group; children with RDs were sensitive to the properties of the different types of NACT verbs showing (a) evidence that the language processor successfully engages in predictions based on the morphosyntactic and lexical characteristics of verbs and (b) preference for default/prototypical readings. These results point toward processing limitations that are greatly affected by syntactic complexity.

Background and aims: The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) is considered a “gold standard” diagnostic instrument in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Monkey Cartoon task is an optional pictured storytelling task in ADOS-2, which has been designed to assess gestural and verbal communication in autistic children while telling a story. It is well established that storytelling is challenging for autistic children, particularly for the content and coherent organization of the story, also known as narrative macrostructure. Existing evidence on the efficacy of the Monkey Cartoon task to pinpoint differences between autistic and neurotypical individuals in narrative macrostructure is scant. In this study, we used a version of the Monkey Cartoon task with modified scoring to analyze the narrative macrostructural skills of two groups of children with and without ASD. We also investigated the relations between narrative macrostructure and language ability in each group. Methods: A group of 16 Greek-speaking autistic children and 16 age- and IQ-matched neurotypical children were administered the Monkey Cartoon storytelling task. Children's vocabulary and syntactic skills were also measured. Narratives were analyzed in terms of macrostructural features, including story completeness and story grammar, as well as units denoting the setting, internal responses and added details. Results: The autistic children had lower scores in communicating the story content rather than story grammar. Moreover, the autistic group tended to include less information on the story's setting and more off-topic utterances than their neurotypical peers. Regarding the relations between narrative macrostructure and language ability, the two groups dissociated since the autistic children tended to rely on vocabulary at the expense of including irrelevant information in their narratives, while neurotypical children relied on both lexical and syntactic skills, especially when instantiating references to the story characters’ mental states and the setting of the story, respectively. Conclusions: The Monkey Cartoon storytelling task seems to be efficient at revealing pragmatic weaknesses mainly at the thematic content level in autistic children. Also, the frequent use of semantically- and pragmatically-irrelevant information in storytelling differentiated autistic from neurotypical children, and may thus be treated as a distinguishing feature of ASD in narrative production. Implications: The findings demonstrate the viability of the Monkey Cartoon task in highlighting language markers of ASD in narrative macrostructure, with clinical implications for enhancing clinical practice in countries like Greece that face a shortage of narrative assessment tools for autistic children.

The aim of the current paper is to present and discuss the development, structure, content, and use of a flexible, scalable and cost-effective cloud-based software system used in the iRead project.The iRead Project (Infrastructure and Integrated Tools for Personalized Learning of Reading Skills) aimed to offer personalized learning services to novice readers and students with reading difficulties or dyslexia by developing an integrated supportive tool for tablets, the iRead software, which includes a set of educational applications, like mini-games, an e-reader and a text classifier. iRead is built and operates around a comprehensive knowledge base, which includes a structured and detailed model of linguistic content that is essential to reading development, the domain model. iRead Domain models are essential for the operation of all iRead apps and were designed to provide personalized learning support to students with dyslexia by enabling each app to select linguistic content based on the particular learning needs of each student. The sophisticated and thorough structure and linguistic content of the iRead domain models, along with the ability of iRead to adapt to students’ needs, constitute unique features that render iRead innovative.

This paper aims to discuss the extent to which possible interactions between mental abilities (intelligence and abstract reasoning), linguistic skills (reading fluency and accuracy and decoding), and metalinguistic skills (phonological awareness, morphology, syntax, and text comprehension) can differentiate students with Developmental Dyslexia (DD) from typical students. Three diagnostic tests were administered in a randomly selected sample from primary schools: the Raven's Educational Test, the Diagnostic Verbal IQ (DVIQ), and the Developmental Dyslexia Diagnostic Test (DDDT). The use of the Gaussian Graphical Model highlighted core differences and associations between typically developed (TD) students and students with DD. Accordingly, it was found that students with DD performed worse on average in all tested tasks (linguistic, metalinguistic, and mental abilities) compared to typical students. In contrast, significant interactions between mental abilities, linguistic, and metalinguistic skills were displayed. Specifically, in both TD and students with DD, strong correlations were found between all the following variables: mental abilities, Production and Sentences Repetition, Comprehension and Sentences Repetition, Comprehension and Text Comprehension. About the students with DD, correlations were found between additional skills, such as mental abilities, Production and Comprehension, Production and Text comprehension, Sentences Repetition, and Text Comprehension. Concerning reading fluency and accuracy, it was found that TD are based on their mental abilities, decoding, and metalinguistic skills. However, in students with DD, despite the strong interaction between their mental abilities and linguistic skills, reading fluency and accuracy are not facilitated by these skills. Furthermore, the mental abilities of students with DD are not correlated with generalized reading comprehension, but only with text comprehension. Unlike typical students, they primarily use metalinguistic concepts rather than their mental abilities to comprehend texts. Finally, their reading difficulties are characterized by decoding errors even at the word level, while no significant interactions were displayed between syntactic comprehension and decoding. In conclusion, the results of this study support particular types of interactions that are necessary to comprehend the elements of the reading process that students with DD adhere to. Interactions that are essential to developing appropriate intervention programs aimed at improving students’ reading skills through effective reading practices.