Cuando la biología y la cultura se encuentranEvaluación de un niño con síndrome de Chiari en situación de desventaja sociocultural

Abstract

This paper gathers the data and the previous design of the evaluation of a 9 year-old child with Chiari Malformation who belongs to a Romani ethnicity and is currently neither able to read nor to write. Chiari’s Malformation is a cerebellum’s malformation whose effects on childrens’ development are not completely clear. Previous research has found comorbidity between this malformation and the autism spectrum disorders (ASD); other research seems to indicate some deficits on the subject’s memory. However, current literature fails to explain the specific learning difficulties in the acquisition of written language process presented by this child accurately enough. Neither the family nor the cultural context offer a precise explanation about this 9 year-old’s learning difficulties, although the effects of this last variable should be taken into account. The evaluation was designed focussing on neuropsychological and cognitive areas, as well as oral language, written language and metaphonological abilities. The results show a deficit within the cognitive processes, and in oral and written language. In particular, the data seem to corroborate the alterations within the child’s memory, especially the verbal type one, which was pointed out in the former literature review.