{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T08:48:49Z","timestamp":1792226929747,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,29]],"date-time":"2022-07-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1659052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of early neuro-psychomotor therapy to improve theory of mind skills and emotion recognition in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. A pilot study was set up, consisting of in-group training activities based on the neuro-psychomotor approach. Children were evaluated using Neuropsychological Assessment for Child (Nepsy-II), Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), and Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). For data analysis, one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test was used with a significance of p &lt; 0.05. Two children with a developmental language disorder and four children with autism spectrum disorders participated in a 3-month training program. Our findings revealed significant improvement in emotion recognition, as measured with Nepsy-II (p = 0.04), while no statistical improvement was found for theory of mind. Despite the limited sample, early neuro-psychomotor therapy improves emotion recognition skills in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, considering the explorative nature of the study, findings should be interpreted with caution.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children9081142","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,31]],"date-time":"2022-07-31T21:49:02Z","timestamp":1659304142000},"page":"1142","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Early Neuro-Psychomotor Therapy Intervention for Theory of Mind and Emotion Recognition in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5595-3376","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisa","family":"Giangiacomo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Castellano","family":"Visaggi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Franca","family":"Aceti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicoletta","family":"Giacchetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melania","family":"Martucci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Federica","family":"Giovannone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Donatella","family":"Valente","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9043-5686","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giovanni","family":"Galeoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2071-4513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Tofani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0589-7614","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carla","family":"Sogos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"274","DOI":"10.1353\/mpq.2004.0018","article-title":"Theory-of-Mind Development: Retrospect and Prospect","volume":"50","author":"Flavell","year":"2004","journal-title":"Merrill-Palmer Q."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wellman, H.M. 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