title: A longitudinal assessment of diverging verbal and non-verbal abilities in the Williams syndrome phenotype.
abstract: Jarrold et al. (1998) presented evidence to suggest that verbal and non-verbal abilities develop at different rates in individuals with the Williams syndrome phenotype. However, this evidence was derived from cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data. The current report presents data from a series of follow up assessments which examine the development of vocabulary and pattern construction abilities in 15 of the original sample of 16 individuals, over a 40 month period. The results confirm the original predictions, as mental age equivalent scores for vocabulary increase more rapidly than scores for the pattern construction test; a finding, which appears unlikely to be due to practice effects.
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Study of Memory and Learning, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK. C.Jarrold@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jarrold
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Baddeley
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hewes
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary; D018980:Williams Syndrome / Q000150:complications*