Psychology of typical and atypical development

General aims. The course aims at providing the students with theoretical and practical knowledge on neurodevelopmental disorders. Students will learn critical models for identifying signs and symptoms of the principal neuropsychiatric disorders in childhood and will be able to understand the interactions between organic, psychological and developmental factors. Lessons would allow students to master typical and atypical cognitive, language and motor development and epidemiology, clinical characteristics, signs and symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly in the first years of life (pre-school age). At the end of the course, students will be able to identify alterations of psychomotor development and will manage tools to perform clinical assessments and to plan therapeutic intervention projects for the main disorders. Specific aims. Knowledge and understanding: passing the exam would imply being capable of understanding and identifying the alterations of psychomotor development and the symptomatology of various neurodevelopmental disorders and the relationship between them. Applying knowledge and understanding: passing the exam would imply mastering the knowledge of how to perform nosographic and developmental diagnosis and to know how to plan intervention projects for the main disorders. Making judgment: passing the exam would imply the acquisition of evaluating critically the clinical characteristics of the patient and of his/her family and the different phases of the diagnostic process. These abilities would be attained through a critical discussion of the symptomatology of differente neurodevelopmental disorders and also through the presentation of clinical cases and examples of neuropsychiatric evaluations. Communication skills: passing the exam would attest that students master the communication abilities and the tools needed for the collection of anamnestic data in a clinical setting, an efficacious communication during the evaluation process, the diagnosis, and the therapeutic program. Learning skills: passing the exam would imply the acquisition of skills conducive to further learning related to neuropsychiatric disorders, clinical assessment and the evidence based therapeutic programs which are subject to frequent and continuous revision.