Giulia Marangon

Giulia Marangon

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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29 April 2025 in Children
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
GMGiusy Melcarne
Giusy Melcarne
GMGiulia Marangon
Giulia Marangon
Roberta Maria IncardonaRoberta Maria Incardona
Roberta Maria Incardona
AAAnna Agostinelli
Anna Agostinelli
SMSilvia Montino
Silvia Montino
Marta TremoladaMarta Tremolada
Marta Tremolada
Children with onco-hematological diseases require intensive medical treatments that can affect various aspects of their development. In addition to the disease itself, what influences the course of development most are the neurotoxic effects of therapies and frequent hospitalizations, especially if they occur in the first three years of the child’s life. Among these challenges there is the potential for language delay, a condition that can impact their communication abilities and overall development. Background/Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine communicative and linguistic development in a small group of young children diagnosed with different forms of leukemia, rhabdomyosarcoma, and CNS tumors, recruited through the Hematology–Oncology Clinic of the Department of Child and Woman Health (University of Padova). Methods: Child direct (Griffiths III, PinG, PCGO) and parent indirect assessments (PVB, ABAS-II, ASCB) were provided. Results: Griffiths communication subscale scores in children were mainly below average (55.6%), and 44.4% attested at the clinical level in ABAS-II, with the ability to understand being significantly higher than the production of words. However, the two levels of assertiveness–responsiveness obtained balance in 66.7% of cases, and using the Griffiths personal subscale, only 22.2% of children attested below average. Conclusions: Understanding and addressing children’s communication needs is crucial to improve the quality of life of these young patients and foster optimal communicative and linguistic development despite the obstacles they face in order to implement interventions designed specifically for this type of population and their respective families, if necessary.

29 May 2026 in Diseases
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
GMGiusy Melcarne
Giusy Melcarne
Roberta Maria IncardonaRoberta Maria Incardona
Roberta Maria Incardona
GMGiulia Marangon
Giulia Marangon
SSSilvia Sorbara
Silvia Sorbara
ABAlessandra Biffi
Alessandra Biffi
Marta TremoladaMarta Tremolada
Marta Tremolada
Introduction: Children diagnosed with hemato-oncological cancers need intensive medical treatments and prolonged hospitalizations, which are associated with increased risk of impairment across multiple neurodevelopmental domains, particularly when exposure occurs within the first three years of life. Objective: This pilot study aimed to explore early language performance in children under 36 months of age hospitalized in a pediatric hemato-oncology unit and to preliminarily investigate changes over time and potential associations with an early speech–language stimulation intervention based on shared reading. Specifically, the study investigated differences between language comprehension and production, as well as variations in linguistic outcomes according to gender and pathology type (liquid vs. solid). Methods: The study employed a sample of 29 children aged 2 to 36 months (M = 20.76, SD = 9.52). Baseline linguistic assessment was conducted using observational measures across multiple language domains, including lexical development (PinG), morphosyntactic abilities (PCGO, GALS), and articulatory skills (BAMF), together with an evaluation of general cognitive functioning (Griffiths). The intervention consisted of in-person shared reading sessions combined with concurrent parental counseling. Exploratory analyses were performed to examine changes over time and group-related differences. Results: Among the sample, lexical comprehension exceeded production (p < 0.001). Sex differences emerged only for lexical comprehension, with males performing worse than females (p = 0.048). Comparisons by diagnosis showed that children with solid tumors had significantly better articulation than those with hematologic malignancies (p = 0.018), with a trend toward higher morphosyntactic production. Longitudinal analyses on 13 children re-evaluated after six months of weekly shared reading intervention showed potential improvements in articulation, lexical production, and morphosyntactic production (all p < 0.01). Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that children in pediatric hemato-oncology settings may be vulnerable to expressive language difficulties. Shared reading interventions may represent a promising supportive approach for early language stimulation; however, further studies with larger samples and controlled designs are needed to better understand their potential contribution and effectiveness.