ABSTRACT
The overarching goal of this book is to present a theoretical framework of perception and cognition in which developmental language disorders can be explained and clinically remediated. This framework has evolved mainly from Affolter and Bischofberger’s research and clinical observations of nonverbal performances in normal and clinical populations. It is based on four principal assumptions:
1. Nonverbal interaction with the physical environment in daily problemsolving events is the root of development;
2. Nonverbal interaction is critically dependent on perceiving information that is anchored by the tactual-kinesthetic input associated with elicited changes of topological relationships between the body and the environment;
3. Inadequate nonverbal interaction experiences hinder development of nonverbal and verbal skills when a central nervous system deficit prevents perceptual activity from being organized well enough to search for the relevant information;
4. Inadequate nonverbal interaction experiences can be impoverished by a variety of central perceptual deficits among children with language disorders, who are not a homogeneous clinical group.
