Abstract
Damage to the right hemisphere can result in poor communication skills, which in turn might engender marked disabilities. Impaired communication skills following to right hemisphere damage differ from deficits characterizing aphasia and may affect speech, lexicon, semantics, pragmatics, as well as prosodic components of communication. The above-mentioned communication deficits seem to affect almost 50% of these patients. Nevertheless, they have usually been studied in isolation from one another; their coexistence within the same individual is still scarcely known. Moreover, the clinical profiles of communication impairments following to a right hemisphere damage, including their correlation with underlying cognitive deficits, are still unreported. The objective of this study was to provide an overview of verbal communication deficits that can be found in individuals with right-hemisphere damage. Those deficits can differentially interfere with prosody, the semantic processing of words and speech, and with pragmatic abilities. Despite the severe deficits they can cause, communication impairments due to a right-hemisphere damage are usually neglected. Underestimation of the damage size is likely to be done to either inappropriate classification or to the lack of proper assessment tools. Indeed, patients with righthemisphere damage might present with severe communication deficits, despite they perform correctly on aphasia tests; this simply happens because aphasia tests are specifically designed to detect left-hemisphere damage. The enhancement of our knowledge about the role of the right hemisphere in verbal communication might have a major impact in the theoretical and clinical fields; moreover, it would facilitate the clinical practice in diagnosing patients with right-hemisphere damage and would lay the foundations for developing new methods and strategies of intervention.
Keywords: Right Hemisphere,Verbal Communication, Discourse, Lexical, Semantics, Pragmatics, Prosody

Abstract
Cross-cultural research highlighted how different cultures are characterized by either individualistic or collectivistic dimensions. At the same time, attention was focused on individuals’ implicit conception about the nature of their intelligence (incremental or entity). The aim of this research was to study the relationship between individualism/ collectivism factors and the representation of intelligence by Italian and Portuguese students. The following variables were considered: school level, gender, and socioeconomic level. 422 Italian and Portuguese students attending University took part in the study; they were equally distributed based on their gender and socioeconomic status. Briefly, results showed that Portuguese students were more collectivist and incremental than Italians. Moreover, significant differences were found for gender and socioeconomic level. In conclusion, the research highlighted the importance of macro-contextual factors such as the socio-economic and political setting which determines how persons develop their motivational beliefs.
Key words: Individualism; Collectivism; Personal Conceptions of Intelligence

Abstract
This study analysed biases towards the inclusion of disabled students in regular schools, burnout levels and interpersonal adaptation, professional self-representation and attitudes towards students with disabilities in a group of 67 special education support teachers, attending the SISSIS educational course in Catania. The following instruments were used: a questionnaire on social attitudes towards disability (De Caroli e al., 2007), the MBI (Maslach, 1982), the Q.A.I. (Di Nuovo, 1998) and three Semantic Differentials (Osgood e al., 1959). Results. Teachers seemed to show overall positive attitudes towards disability and school inclusion of disabled students. As far as the burnout effect is concerned, a small number of teachers felt that their professional role was inadequate, thus showing attitudes of hostility and aloofness towards their colleagues, their disabled students as well as towards the challenging situation; furthermore, lack of emotional resources and poor personal fulfilment in the professional field were found in a small percentage of cases. On one hand, results on interpersonal adaptation indicated a significant concern about one’s own social image and expression of closing and avoiding attitudes towards stressful situations; on the other hand, reduced impulsiveness and stress in social situations. The rating for professional self-representation by special education support teachers who showed low levels of emotional exhaustion and high levels of personal fulfilment was higher than the rating for attitudes towards colleagues and disabled students (characterized by several “weaknesses”, as previously found in De Caroli e al., 2007); furthermore, teachers who showed low levels of non-affirmativeness and impulsiveness presented with higher self-esteem as special education support teachers. Deeper knowledge on this phenomenon might represent an operational instrument for designing vocational training courses, aimed at professional development and improvement of the quality of life.
Keywords: Support teachers, Professional self-representation, Burnout Syndrome

Abstract
Persons with Intellectual Disabilities present with a high risk for developing psychopathologies. Namely, those who have Down syndrome, during their lifespan, might experience several problems that can further progress in psychopathological disorders. Among those disorders, the most frequent is depression, so far largely discussed and documented. Data on the prevalence of Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Down syndrome are still little clear and not well defined; differences in Pervasive Developmental Disorders prevalence rates found in a few studies highlight the complexity of diagnosis as well as the uncertain association of autism with such a syndrome. This paper analyses the prevalence of psychopathologies in a sample of 281 persons with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities. The most frequently diagnosed psychopathological disorders fall within the mood, relationship and behaviours domains.
Keywords: Down Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Psychopathology

Abstract
It is estimated that about 5%-10% of school-age children present with learning disabilities and difficulties in developing academic skills, namely literacy. Learning disabilities are likely to be diagnosed only during primary school years, when deficits become evident. Early assessment of learning problems might be useful for preventing further learning disorders; however, psychometric and standardized testing are not appropriate because of the children’s age and/or because such kind of wide-range screening is not time-consuming. This study analyses the importance of early assessment in preschool children with learning disabilities. The basic assumption is that most of the functions underlying academic skills develop in preschool years. The IPDA questionnaire, an instrument for early assessment of learning disabilities through observation, proved to be as effective in predicting possible learning disabilities.
Keywords: Learning disabilities, Early assessment, Observational instrument

Abstract
Tourette disorder is a neuro-behavioural disorder characterized by motor and verbal fluctuating and involuntary tics. The onset is 2-to-18 years of age, main symptoms tend to disappear with the increasing of the age.However, in a few cases, they can still be present, although their severity gradually decreases. Eye blinking, facial grimaces, “kiss-shaped lips” are often evident. Symptoms more frequently associated with Tourette disorder are obsessions and compulsions, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attentional deficits. Tics cause remarkable uneasiness. Most of the persons with Tourette disorder present with normal-level intellectual functioning.However, a remarkable gap was found between cognitive- verbal and visuo-motor skills. Our study was carried out with the purpose of tracing an intellectual profile of persons with Tourette disorder who also show intellectual disability.
Keywords:Tourette Disorder, Intellectual Disability,Tic

Abstract
This article reviewed cross-group comparisons (differing in culture, nationality, and race) in order to understand how caregivers’ cultural peculiarities have an impact on the type of caring for their patients.After a brief introduction explaining the reasons underlying this kind of research, classic literature on mental representations of human body, health, illness and practices of care was reviewed; finally, recent studies on caring professions were also analysed, in the light of further research in this field.
Key word: Health, Illness, Caring Professions.