PUPIL DILATION HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE EFFORT REQUIRED TO PERFORM VARIOUS COGNITIVE TASKS. AT THE LEXICAL LEVEL, SOME STUDIES SUGGEST THAT THIS NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURE WOULD PROVIDE OBJECTIVE, REAL-TIME INFORMATION DURING WORD PROCESSING AND LEXICAL ACCESS. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE SCARCITY AND INCIPIENT ADVANCEMENT OF THIS LINE OF RESEARCH, ITS APPLICABILITY, USE, AND SENSITIVITY ARE NOT ENTIRELY CLEAR. THIS SCOPING REVIEW AIMS TO DETERMINE THE APPLICABILITY AND USEFULNESS OF PUPILLOMETRY IN THE STUDY OF LEXICAL ACCESS BY PROVIDING AN UP-TO-DATE OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH IN THIS AREA. FOLLOWING THE PRISMA PROTOCOL,16 ARTICLES WERE INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT PUPILLOMETRY IS A HIGHLY APPLICABLE, USEFUL, AND SENSITIVE METHOD FOR ASSESSING LEXICAL SKILLS OF WORD RECOGNITION, WORD RETRIEVAL, AND SEMANTIC ACTIVATION. MOREOVER, IT EASILY FITS INTO TRADITIONAL RESEARCH PARADIGMS AND METHODS IN THE FIELD. BECAUSE IT IS A NON-INVASIVE, OBJECTIVE, AND AUTOMATED PROCEDURE, IT CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY POPULATION OR AGE GROUP. HOWEVER, THE EMERGING DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SPECIFIC AREA OF RESEARCH AND THE METHODOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OBSERVED IN THE INCLUDED STUDIES DO NOT YET ALLOW FOR DEFINITIVE CONCLUSIONS IN THIS AREA, WHICH IN TURN DOES NOT ALLOW FOR META-ANALYSES OR FULLY CONCLUSIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT WHAT THE PUPIL RESPONSE ACTUALLY REFLECTS WHEN PROCESSING WORDS. STANDARDIZED PUPILLARY RECORDING AND ANALYSIS METHODS NEED TO BE DEFINED TO GENERATE MORE ACCURATE, REPLICABLE RESEARCH DESIGNS WITH MORE RELIABLE RESULTS TO STRENGTHEN THIS LINE OF RESEARCH.

PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE CAN CAUSE DEVELOPMENTAL DAMAGE IN CHILDREN. THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES AND RANGES OF ALTERATIONS THAT FALL UNDER THE NAME OF FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS (FASD). DISABILITIES IN LEARNING, COGNITION, AND BEHAVIOR ARE OBSERVED. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE AN INFLUENCING FACTOR IN THIS POPULATION SINCE THEY ARE GENERALLY ADVERSE AND ARE EITHER NOT DIAGNOSED AT AN EARLY STAGE OR GIVEN THE APPROPRIATE SUPPORT AND APPROACH. WE PRESENT A CASE STUDY OF A 9-YEAR-OLD CHILD, IN WHICH ALL THE VARIABLES AFFECTING HIS DEVELOPMENT (FASD DIAGNOSIS AND SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS) WERE OBSERVED AND ANALYZED. HIS EARLY CHILDHOOD UNDER INSTITUTIONAL CARE, THE MOVE TO A FOSTER HOME AT THE AGE OF 6, AND SEVERAL MEASURES OF EVALUATION FROM FOSTER CARE TO THE PRESENT ARE DESCRIBED. DIFFICULTIES IN VOCABULARY, ACCESS TO VOCABULARY, MORPHOLOGY, SYNTAX, GRAMMAR, ORAL NARRATIVE, PRAGMATICS, SPEECH, AND COMMUNICATION WERE OBSERVED, ALONG WITH COGNITIVE DIFFICULTIES IN MEMORY, PERCEPTION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING, SOCIAL ADAPTATION, LEARNING, AND BEHAVIOR. AN EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND APPROACH ENABLE THIS POPULATION TO DEVELOP SKILLS IN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS TO ADDRESS EARLY ADVERSITY DESPITE THEIR NEUROLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL COMMITMENT. SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST SERVICES ARE CRUCIAL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF THE LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES THAT CHARACTERIZE THIS SYNDROME.

FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS ARE A SET OF CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS THAT INCLUDE GROWTH, PHYSICAL, BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DEFICITS THAT HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE, SPEECH AND COMMUNICATION. THE PRESENT STUDY AIMS TO EXAMINE THE LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION CHARACTERISTICS OF 19 CASES OF INDIVIDUALS WITH FASD AGED 6 TO 17 YEARS. THE PEABODY AND CELF-5 TESTS WERE USED. THE RESULTS OF THE PEABODY TEST SHOWED A GROUP SCORE OF VIQ=7 1, WHICH IS CONSIDERED MODERATELY LOW. FOR THE CELF5 TEST, ALL INDICES WERE BELOW AVERAGE IN ALL LANGUAGE SKILLS ASSESSED IN THE TEST. THE POPULATION WITH FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS PRESENTS A PROFILE OF LINGUISTIC AND COMMUNICATIVE IMPAIRMENTS THAT AFFECT THEIR PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXTS. THE LIMITATIONS IN THESE SKILLS HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE WAY THEY PERFORM IN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND IN THEIR DAILY LIVES.

MORPHOLOGICAL AWARENESS IS REFERRED TO THE CONSCIOUS LEVEL OF THE MORPHEMIC STRUCTURE OF WORDS, AND THE SKILLS TO MANAGE AND MANIPULATE THESE STRUCTURES. DIFFERENT STUDIES, MAINLY IN ENGLISH, SUGGEST THAT THE MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSING PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN READING SKILLS ACQUISITION, ESSENTIAL FOR LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION. THEREFORE, THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PRESENT RESEARCH WAS TO STUDY IF THERE EXISTS A RELATION BETWEEN METAMORFOLOGICAL SKILLS AND READING COMPREHENSION, AND TO DEVELOP A PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS MODEL OF READING COMPREHENSION FROM THE METAMORFOLOGICAL SKILLS. THIS STUDY HAD A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH, AND WAS AN ANALYTICAL CORRELATIONAL AND TRANSVERSAL STUDY. A METAMORFOLOGICAL SKILLS ASSESSMENT TEST (MSAT) WAS DESIGN INCORPORATING CONTENT VALIDATION USING EXPERT JUDGMENT AND CRITERION VALIDATION WITH BLOC-R, GETTING AN INSTRUMENT WITH 4 SUBTESTS OF ANALYSIS AND MORPHOLOGICAL COMPOSITION. THIS INSTRUMENT WAS APPLIED TO 36 4TH GRADE PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CLP TEST (PROGRESSIVE LINGUISTIC COMPLEXITY) TO ASSESS READING COMPREHENSION. AS PART OF THE RESULTS, WE FOUND THAT THERE IS A RELATION BETWEEN METAMORFOLOGICAL SKILLS AND READING COMPREHENSION. THE RESULTS ALSO REVEALED THAT THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS SKILLS, WITHIN A SENTENCE CONTEXT, ARE FAR MORE RELATED TO READING THAN THE SKILL OF DERIVED WORDS FROM A SINGLE ROOT. LINEAL REGRESSION WAS APPLIED AND IT SHOWED THAT THERE IS A LINEAL RELATION BETWEEN THE SCORES OF THE CLP AND PERFORMANCE IN THE METAMORFOLÓGICAS SKILLS ASSESSMENT TEST. THE MODEL EXPLAINS ABOUT 42.32% IN VARIABILITY OF THE RESULTS IN READING COMPREHENSION.