THE KEYNOTE LECTURES OF THE GIORNATE CLASTA 2025
The 15th edition of the Giornate CLASTA will take place in Bologna in May 23-24, 2025, in collaboration with the University of Bologna (Dipartimento di Psicologia “Renzo Canestrari”).
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The conference will host three high-level keynote lectures:
- Marc H. Bornstein (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD USA, Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK, and UNICEF, NYC, US)
Child Language, Five Principles - Cesare Cornoldi (Università degli Studi di Padova, AIRIPA)
Struttura dell’intelligenza e collocazione delle abilità linguistiche e il caso dei disturbi del neurosviluppo - Carina Lüke (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
Early indicators of language delay in mono- and multilingual children
MARC H. BORNSTEIN
Keynote Lecture:
Child Language, Five Principles
«This talk identifies and elaborates central principles and elements that enhance our understanding of child language. The five principles and their elements are:
(1) Norms: Group Means and Individual Variation
(2) Development: Continuity and Stability
(3) Prediction: Transactions and Cascades
(4) Theory: Nature and Nurture
(5) Determinants: Ecology and Specificity
The talk begins with a brief overview of the multidimensionality and measurement of child language and focuses on the lexicon and its significance. Theory and data on child language from infancy to adolescence are then brought to bear to illustrate the five principles and their elements».
Marc H. Bornstein holds appointments at the NICHD, IFS, and UNICEF, has degrees from Columbia College and Yale University, honorary doctorates from Padua, Trento, and Heidelberg Universities, is President Emeritus of the SRCD, was Professor at Princeton and New York Universities, is Editor Emeritus of Child Development and founding Editor of Parenting, and has published in experimental, comparative, developmental, and cultural science as well as neuroscience, pediatrics, and aesthetics.
CESARE CORNOLDI
Keynote Lecture:
Struttura dell’intelligenza e collocazione delle abilità linguistiche e il caso dei disturbi del neurosviluppo
«Recenti approcci allo studio e alla valutazione dell’intelligenza che non si limitano al fattore g e alla stima del QI hanno permesso di evidenziare l’utilità di una considerazione differenziata dei meccanismi intellettivi. L’intervento esemplificherà questa prospettiva con riferimento alle abilità linguistiche e alla loro possibile organizzazione gerarchica. Verranno riportate esemplificazioni e indicazioni cliniche relative ai disturbi del neurosviluppo e in particolare ai DSA».
Cesare Cornoldi xxx
CARINA LÜKE
Keynote Lecture:
Early indicators of language delay in mono- and multilingual children
«Early identification of children at high risk for language delays and disorders is essential for implementing effective prevention programs. This requires screening tools with strong predictive validity that also account for the context of multilingualism. However, existing tools for children as young as 12 months are designed exclusively for monolinguals and lack sufficient predictive accuracy.
Drawing on the concept of a multimodal communication system—supported by extensive research demonstrating the close link between gestural and spoken language skills—I will present the findings of a series of studies, in which we investigated the predictive value of early pointing gestures for later language development. Our results reveal that 12-month-olds who point with the extended index finger are less likely to show language delays at 24 months and have advanced language skills up to the age of 9 years, compared to infants who only point with the whole hand at 12 months.
In my presentation, I will discuss the significance of these findings beyond the developmental domain of language and present our ongoing efforts to develop a time-efficient and predictively valid screening tool designed for use at the end of the first year of life. This tool aims to be suitable to children growing up in monolingual or multilingual environments and ensure broader applicability across diverse linguistic environments.».
Carina Lüke Carina Lüke is a full professor of Special Education and Therapy in Language and Communication Disorders at the University of Würzburg, Germany. Together with her research group, the lab for communication and language (FoKuS), she investigates the multimodal language acquisition in mono- and multilingual children from infancy throughout school years. She also conducts research on the identification of Developmental Language Disorders (DLD) and evidence-based interventions for children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN), both in schools and within Speech and Language Therapy. She was one of the leading researchers of the Delphi study on the definition and terminology of DLD in the German-speaking countries.
CLASTA organizes every year a two-day conference (Giornate CLASTA) that gathers researchers and practitioners working within the field of language and communication development in typical and atypical populations. The Giornate CLASTA include keynote lectures, thematic symposia and poster sessions.
Since 2014, CLASTA has also been promoting a working group that includes more than 20 Associations, Organizations, and Institutions, for the implementation of a Consensus Conference on primary language impairment. The Consensus Conference is organized in collaboration with the Federation of Italian Speech and Language Therapists.