Abstract
Subjects with mental retardation, who have experienced repeated failures, may develop an attribution profile characterised by a bias towards primarily external causes. Consideration of internal causes requires the involvement of higher metacognitive and metalinguistic levels. Consequently, attribution to effort requires an awareness of one’s own internal states. The aim of our study is to investigate the relationship between the attribution style and the knowledge of internal states words (physiological, emotional and cognitive) in subjects with mental retardation. The group consisting of 14 subjects was given an Attribution Test (Pepi and Alesi, 2001) and a Comprehension and Production Internal States Test (Alesi and Pepi, 2004). The results show a significant relationship between attribution style and knowledge of internal states words. In particular, subjects with mental retardation tend to attribute mainly performance to external help and to present low internal states lexicon. The results of this study provide support for the complex and multidimensional picture of causal attribution in subjects with mental retardation which has emerged from recent research.

Abstract
The hypothesis of visual-spatial deficits as a possible cause of reading difficulties was confirmed by a bulk of neurophisiological data, that suggest a strict correlation between perceptual factors and reading difficulties. According to the hypothesis of visual-spatial deficits, a recent research (Valdois et al., 2003) showed differences between good and poor readers in spatial location and visual analysis tasks. Researchers found that poor readers have difficulties in inhibiting peripheral information of the visual field. This is suggestive of a possible attention deficit and an impairment in visual stimuli processing. Based on the literature, we aimed to confirm whether a) there are significant differences between good and poor readers during visual stimuli processing; b) any deficit in visual information processing differentially affects the manipulation of either single graphic stimuli or clusters of perceptual information. Sixty children, aged 6-7 years, with medium-to-low SES and educational levels, were assessed at the end of the first year of primary school. The sample was divided into two groups: “good” and “poor” readers. Each subject received visuo-spatial processing tasks ( PEVS) for the purpose of assessing visuo-spatial ability in distinguishing between alphabetical letters that were perceptually similar or specular, between clusters of stimuli, as well as between abstract and concrete figures having the same characteristics. Research results showed a close correlation between difficulties in reading and visuo-spatial processing. Specifically, it seems that differences in processing visual stimuli – letters and abstract figures – depend on the readers skills (good and poor readers).

Abstract
Advanced in neonatology have led to an increased survival of very preterm infants. To evaluate the effects of prematurity the neurodevelopmental outcome of these infants is closely monitored in order to know how this particular newborn population grows up and in order to analyze the potential interactions between the preterm birth and possible risks factors (social risk factor) . In order to fully uderstand this phenomenon it is necessary to have a clear identification of the study’s sample characteristics, of the evaluation instruments, as well as of the matching between the different data. For this purpose we have planned, in the course of the newborn’s first year of life, a neurological - psychological follow - up for a particular infant population. The sample is made up of 40 infants with less than 37 weeks of gestational age and with a birth weight < 1300 grams or > 1300 grams but associated to "serious complications" (neurological and/or pulmonary). In this paper the follow - up steps are accurately described together with the type of instruments employed for the assessments. The infant assessments include: infant neurological-behavioral evaluation, mental and psychomotor development evaluation, appraisal of infant psychological development and also assessment of the parent - child relation and analysis of possible environmental risk factors. The preliminary data, still in phase of collection and elaboration, confirm the most recent studies (Singer et al., 2003) concerning infants <1500 grams and affected by neurological and respiratory diseases. These studies also investigate the relationships between parental emotional states, parental behavior and neuro-psychological outcomes of the children.

Abstract
Addiction, especially to highly saturant substances such as opioids, is defined by the WHO as a chronic relapsing disease. To all effects, substance addiction represents a disabling condition which increasingly impairs the quality of life and the history of an individual. Despite an effective treatment that might facilitate adaptation, persons’ relationships and life experiences seem to remain irreversibly marked by the experience of addiction. The aim of this study is to monitor, over a period of 12 months, the trend of the quality of life, the perceived craving for substances and the psychopathological picture of 25 patients in care at Ser.T (Enna), treated with methadone and buprenorphine. To this purpose, the sample group received a monthly evaluation protocol that consisted of the following tests and forms, which were administered by evaluators or by the patients themselves: ANAG, AbSo, SCL-90,VaC,GAF,Qol. Results, analyzed after 6 and 12 months, highlighted a close correlation between the various aspects of the quality of life, the craving for substances and the person’s psychopathological picture. In consideration of the prevalent psychological characteristics of the sample group (hypercriticism towards others and paranoid tendencies), in most cases an inversely proportional ratio between the level of satisfaction with the individual’s existential condition and the course of the symptoms of anxiety, somatization and mood disorders, while along with the increase of the latter, there is a proportional increase in craving, as suggested in “Self-selection hypothesis” by Kanthzian (1985a, 1985b,1997). Based on those results, we tend to consider addiction as a psychopathological dimension having serious relapses in the quality of life of the addicts and in their relationship systems. This consideration opens new perspectives for thinking and intervention on all the habits and rituals which, although not fully satisfying diagnostic criteria for substance abuse disorders, they set themselves up as forms of polarization of thought, capable of structurally modifying the value system, the ability of the individual to manage his or her time and relationships. One final consideration concerns the role of pleasure in life and relationships as a protective factor from the risk of addiction.

Abstract
In this paper we report the case of a 7-year old boy with diabetes type I, since the age of 2.5 years; learning retardation, behavioural disorders, relational difficulties (shown – above all – at school), normal intellectual functioning. The case we present here agrees with the view of the searchers who support the influence of diabetes on learning disorders. We wish to supply a further contribution to the study of this subject, on which scholars do not come to shared conclusions.

Abstract
The Instrumental Enrichment Program (IE), originally conceived by Reuven Feuerstein, represents an intervention instrument with no specific contents, whose main purpose is to improve cognitive functioning. The application of the IE Program with socially and culturally disadvantaged people, culturally deprived people and persons with mental retardation showed positive effects in increasing specific cognitive functions as well as in improving some of the behavioural variables. In this contribution, we describe an experience with three adolescents having mild Mental Retardation who received the IE Program. For each participant, we initially summarized a psychological and pedagogical picture, obtained from the administration of standard and dynamic assessment instruments. The following IE Instruments were applied for this study: Organization of Dots, Spatial Orientation I, Images, Comparisons, Analytic Perception. Following our experience, remarkable changes in the cognitive functioning of each participant were found; namely the ability to use adequate verbal tools, to adopt more systematic work procedures, to transfer acquisitions to other similar tasks.

Abstract
The second part of the review regarding the self injurious behavior in mental retardation reports studies in the main psychopathological conditions and in the associated syndromes. In particular, data about Smith–Magenis, Prader-Willi, Rett, Tourette, Cri-du-chat, Lesch-Nyhan, Cornelia De Lange syndromes and autistic disorder are presented. The more used instruments for the assessment and the treatment typologies (behavioral, pharmacological) are discussed.