The human hand can take on a huge variety of shapes and functions, providing its owner with a powerful hammer at one time or a delicate pair of forceps at another. The universal utility of the hand is even more enhanced by the ability to amplify the function of the hand by using tools. To understand and appreciate how the human brain controls movements of the hand, it is important to investigate both the healthy motor behaviour and dysfunction during everyday manipulative tasks. This book provides a contemporary summary of the physiology and pathophysiology of the manipulative and exploratory functions of the human hand. With contributions from scientists and clinical researchers of biomechanics, kinesiology, neurophysiology, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, it covers the development of healthy human grasping over the lifespan, the wide spectrum of disability in the pathological state and links basic motor research with modern brain sciences.

Perceptual-Motor Activities for Children: An Evidence-Based Guide to Building Physical and Cognitive Skills provides a proven blueprint for improving perceptual-motor skills—the skills that require young learners to use their brains and their bodies together to accomplish tasks. When kids improve these skills, they not only improve their coordination and increase their body awareness but they also enhance their intellectual skills and gain a more positive self-image. This easy-to-use guide outlines a 32-week program of sequential station activities that will help pre-K and elementary school-aged children in various stages of development, particularly those who are lagging behind in their perceptual-motor skills. Developed and piloted by two educators who have refined the program since 2004, this program provides all you need to create a perceptual-motor learning laboratory for your students. The book and accompanying web resource include • 200 station activities; • evidence-based research proving the program’s effectiveness in improving physical and cognitive skills; • complete instructions for creating a perceptual-motor learning laboratory in a variety of learning environments; • expert guidance in developing lateral skills, balance, body image, tracking skills, spatial relations, locomotor skills, and manipulative skills; and • activity cards for all the activities in the book, extra activities not found in the book, full-color active learning cards to be used in the activities, a record sheet, and audio tracks. The station activities are purposeful and can be sequenced for building a lab or used independently for targeted skill development. They are formatted as activity cards that may be posted at the stations for easy reference. The activity cards include instructions and illustrations to help you set up quickly as well as skill criteria to enable you to informally assess your students’ performances. With the activity cards handy, volunteers and even student aides can easily help with setting up and monitoring readily available activities. If you want to use the activities in sequence, you can access four eight-week sets of lessons, progressing from bilateral skills to unilateral to cross-lateral to a combination of skills. The program enables kids to participate in the lab at least four times a week for 30 minutes per session. It also takes you through a screening process to assess current skills and needs, helping you identify students who are most at risk and establish baselines for measuring improvements. The web resource includes all of the book’s activity cards that you may download and print as needed as well as extra activities not included in the book. The record sheet on the web resource can be saved to an electronic device so you can customize it for use with your students. Audio tracks are a powerful tool for managing the transitions between stations. Perceptual-Motor Activities for Children will help you guide children in developing lateral skills, balance, positive body image, tracking skills, spatial relations, locomotor skills, and manipulative skills. In doing so, children will improve not only their physical skills but their emotional, social, and cognitive skills as well.

Este libro presenta las perspectivas más actuales de intervención y apoyo a las personas afectadas por el síndrome de Williams, con especial énfasis en el lenguaje y la comunicación. Desde una concepción de atención continuada, se ofrecen pautas para la intervención en los contextos familiar, escolar y sociolaboral. Se trata del primer libro de esta naturaleza que se escribe en lengua española y recoge la experiencia de los autores en la investigación y el tratamiento del síndrome de Williams. Está destinado a profesionales, estudiantes y familiares de personas con el síndrome de Williams, pues propone una intervención interdisciplinar y una visión amplia de esta rara enfermedad, además de proporcionar elementos de gran utilidad para el trabajo de logopedas y otros profesionales de las ciencias de la salud, el lenguaje y la educación. Elena Garayzábal es profesora de Lingüística Clínica y profesional colaboradora de la Asociación Síndrome de Williams España (ASWE). Montserrat Fernández es investigadora de Psicología en la Fundación Pública Gallega de Medicina Genómica. Eliseo Díez-Itza es profesor de Psicología en la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad de Oviedo.

El DST-J es una batería breve de screening o detección rápida de la dislexia dirigida a niños de 6 años y medio a 11 años y medio. Su aplicación debe ser individual y requiere únicamente entre 25 y 45 minutos. El test está formado por 12 pruebas: Nombres, Coordinación, Lectura, Estabilidad postural, Segmentación fonémica, Rimas, Dictado, Dígitos inversos, Lectura sin sentido, Copia, Fluidez verbal, Fluidez semántica y Vocabulario. Estas puntuaciones, a su vez, se combinan dando lugar a un índice de riesgo que señala la presencia de riesgo de dislexia en el niño y la magnitud de este riesgo: leve, moderado o alto. Además, el DST-J proporciona información sobre los puntos fuertes y débiles en la ejecución del niño. Este instrumento se ha desarrollado teniendo en cuenta las investigaciones más recientes en el campo; además las propiedades psicométricas obtenidas son muy satisfactorias. Su utilización es sencilla y accesible para profesionales no especializados en la utilización de baterías psicológicas y los estímulos resultan muy atractivos a los niños de las edades a las que va dirigido.