Abstract
In presented paper there have been indicated the importance of play activity of the child as a semiotic operation indispensable in development of higher mental functions in the example of verbal thinking. The semiotic context, only used as a context helpful in explaining and clarifying psychological concepts, is to be seen as a possible direction of investigation whose result will hopefully lead to a reformulation of some of their premises. Firstly, according to Vygotsky’s proposal, a short analysis of play in the pre - school age were presented stressing a crucial point in the child development which is the ability to create an imaginary world thanks to the operations on meanings. Emphasising the emotional nature of play, he argued that at the root of the “pretend play” situation is the tendency to realise desires that cannot be fulfilled in real activity, thus opening the way to imagination. Then a short discussion on the sign / meaning concept is introduced in the example of the ideas of de Saussure and Peirce indicating psychological interpretation of the above concepts. The conclusions are then met with the psychological concept of meaning proposed by Vygotsky, that in his contribution to the theory of language (1989) was discovering the fact that meaning (generalisation) develops and at each stage of development it has a different structure, determining the child’s functioning in different areas of activity. In particular, an outline of his conception of meaning / concept development is given and applied in analysis of semiotic phenomena based on play activity of the pre – school child. In conclusion some remarks are done on the possibility of usefulness of Peirce’s semiotics in perspective of Vygotsky’s work and perspective of a careful study of a child play concerning the issue of concept development.

Abstract
The literature on mother-infant olfactory recognition, although wide of experimental contributions, is controversial. It is not completely clear at which age newborn-babies react to maternal stimuli (as milk, amniotic liquid, breast or axillary odours), as well as to body odours of unknown mothers or to artificial stimuli; and the extent to which other factors, as sleep and wake, could influence newborn-babies responses to biological or not biological stimuli. Here, two experimentes were carried out, in order to examine newborn-babies response to maternal milk, maternal axillary odour and artificial milk. Neonates were examined after a natural or caesarian birth at a mean age of 18 hours (1st experiment); and both asleep and awake at a mean age of 70 hours (2nd experiment). Results show that almost all newborn-babies are able to recognize maternal odours. However these issues are affected by the kind of birth (natural or caesarian), the kind of odours and by their hedonic (pleasant/unpleasant) value. Particulary, in the 1st experiment all newborn-babies in the “natural birth” condition are able to recognize maternal milk and maternal axillary odour; while half of neonates in the “caesarian birth” condition recognize maternal milk, and almost all of them recognize maternal axillary odour. But only maternal milk stimulus give raises to pleasures hedonic responses. These issues were observed also in the 2nd experiment; but here the two conditions examined (sleep and wake) do not affect significantly recognition responses.

Abstract
This work is the result of a longitudinal survey about the early stage of the communicative development of the child. On a 61 children sample, through a structured questionnaire, filled by the parents, we have token information at the 10th and the 18th mounths. We have therefore inquired on the communicative development both in the oral expressions and in the symbolic gestures. A great attention has been placed in the appraisal of those elements of the communication that are indicated as the forerunner of the language. We have therefore found the existing relationship between the oral and the symbolic communication, we have tried to identify their possible influence on the development of vocabulary and grammar. The work has essentially found interesting relationship between the development of the symbolic thought and the linguistic one. Key words: language, development, infancy.

Abstract
The present study aims to verify if there are differences in aggressive and non-aggressive childrens’ cognitive ability in codifying social situations within two different contexts: family and school. Whatever, the research wants to analyze children’s judgement on provoked or not provoked conflict events, and to verify the influence of age and rate of aggressive behavior. 64 subjects 7/8 and 10/11 aged, with high and low rate of aggression, were selected by peers nominations: each child was asked to indicate either the classmates that were aggressive for four weeks, and the frequency and type of these episodes. The subjects were asked to evaluate verbal and physical aggressive acts described in 12 short stories. Aggressive episodes between peers and between adults and children were explored in two different contexts: family and school. Same questions follow each story to verify: a) Evaluation of the act (Was the act right ? Why ?); b) Relationship between provocation and retribution (Who did you make the bigger mistake ? Why ?); c) Recognition and evaluation of a rule (Was a rule broken ? If so, which rule ?); d) Aggressive responses to conflict events (What would you have done in the place of ...?). Even the youngest children and the most aggressive ones were able to understand social rules. The setting in which the interaction takes place seems to have influenced the subjects’ evaluation, but older aggressive children justify adult aggressive behaviours more frequently, especially in the family setting. They perceive provocation cues in a different way compared to non-aggressive children. The results suggest the importance of carrying out a more specific social-cognitive assessment in order to evaluate children’s behavioural performances.

Abstract
Learning and memory are systemic processes mediated by the integrated activity of different cerebral areas. Neuropsychological evaluation of mnestic functions must provide a qualitative approach to the structural organization of memory and oriented toward the cognitive processes rather than the final score.This study offers a qualitative profile of learning and memory, both for verbal as well as visuospatial modalities, of primary school children and examines whether, in prepuberal group, age and sex differences are already present in verbal and non verbal memory and in the ability to use a semantic clustering strategy. The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the Biber Figure Learning Test (BFLT) were administered to 40 attending the second year and 40 attending the fifth year in primary school children, of which 38 boys and 42 girls. In CVLT, both in the entire sample and age and sex groups, was shown an increasing learning rate across trials. However, girls and older children performed better. Proactive interference appears to be limited. In memory trials, the entire sample showed a good retention of information in short and long delays. It may be probably ascribed to the presence of semantic categories that improves recall. Girls and older group performed better also in free and cued recall. Recall perfomance by category cuing was better than free recall. Recognition testing was the simplest one.Clustering scores, generally, appears to be very low and it might refer to physiologic immaturity of cortical posterior associative areas and prefrontal regions. However, in older children and in girls group it was shown a more increasing clustering semantic scores in learning trials. More consistent differences were found in trials with better performances in terms of amount of learned words as a consequence of a larger use of semantic strategy. Free recall, especially in long term memory, registered better scores of semantic clustering, more evident in older group and girls. Thus, in this sample, a semantic clustering strategy was not much visible at 7 years, however it was seen more consistent around the age of 10. In BFLT, an increasing rate of learning across the immediate-recall trials was shown both in the sample as a whole and in age and sex groups. Age and gender reached again statistical significance: older children perform always better than the younger group, whereas boys show better scores than the girls. Immediate and delayed recognition were the simplest trials.Delayed free recall and immediate reproduction showed better performances in boys group and in the older one. However, in this sample, verbal and non verbal learning and memory, as well as the ability to use a semantic clustering strategy, are correlated both with age and gender. Gender differences are already visible at 7 years of age, and become more consistent around the age of 10.

Abstract
In this paper we report the case of a 7-years old girl with mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, EEG abnormalities (slow and sharp waves and tactile evoked spikes), migraine, attention and memory deficit, impulsivity and learning disorders. Clinical observation showed also mood disturbances and affective immaturity after a short period of treatment with flunarizine, episodes of migraine ceased, impulsivity and attention deficit were significantly reduced, comprehension and learning disorder improved, dislalias decreased. This case allows to hypothesise the role of cortical hyperexcitability in the etiopathogenesis of this condition.

Abstract
Rett syndrome, first described in 1966 by Andrea Rett, is a neurodegenerative disorder of unknown aetiology, even if the syndrome is associated to increased cell-packing density, neurotransmitter metabolic alterations and genetic and developmental factors. This disability is found almost esclusively in females, nevertheless in literature male types of Rett variants are described. The prevalence of the syndrome has been estimated to be approximately 1/10000 girls. The disorder is characterized by a loss of cognitive and motor retardation, impaired expressive and receptive language, decelerating head growth, loss of purposeful use of the hands, jerky truncal ataxia, social regression and stereotyped hand movements. In Rett syndrome, it has been applied a system based on 4 clinical stages. The present article presents a review of current knowledge in Rett syndrome, concerning diagnostic criteria, clinical characteristics of the 4 stages and management. Information is provided on the differential diagnosis, in particular with autism, cognitive and adaptive profiles.