{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T05:03:30Z","timestamp":1780549410136,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780012800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"AIL PADOVA ODV sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policies","award":["STAI BENE 3.0 Plus (approval date: 1st February 2024) and STAI BENE 4.0 (approval date: 1st August 2025)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["STAI BENE 3.0 Plus (approval date: 1st February 2024) and STAI BENE 4.0 (approval date: 1st August 2025)"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diseases"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: Children diagnosed with hemato-oncological cancers need intensive medical treatments and prolonged hospitalizations, which are associated with increased risk of impairment across multiple neurodevelopmental domains, particularly when exposure occurs within the first three years of life. Objective: This pilot study aimed to explore early language performance in children under 36 months of age hospitalized in a pediatric hemato-oncology unit and to preliminarily investigate changes over time and potential associations with an early speech\u2013language stimulation intervention based on shared reading. Specifically, the study investigated differences between language comprehension and production, as well as variations in linguistic outcomes according to gender and pathology type (liquid vs. solid). Methods: The study employed a sample of 29 children aged 2 to 36 months (M = 20.76, SD = 9.52). Baseline linguistic assessment was conducted using observational measures across multiple language domains, including lexical development (PinG), morphosyntactic abilities (PCGO, GALS), and articulatory skills (BAMF), together with an evaluation of general cognitive functioning (Griffiths). The intervention consisted of in-person shared reading sessions combined with concurrent parental counseling. Exploratory analyses were performed to examine changes over time and group-related differences. Results: Among the sample, lexical comprehension exceeded production (p &lt; 0.001). Sex differences emerged only for lexical comprehension, with males performing worse than females (p = 0.048). Comparisons by diagnosis showed that children with solid tumors had significantly better articulation than those with hematologic malignancies (p = 0.018), with a trend toward higher morphosyntactic production. Longitudinal analyses on 13 children re-evaluated after six months of weekly shared reading intervention showed potential improvements in articulation, lexical production, and morphosyntactic production (all p &lt; 0.01). Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that children in pediatric hemato-oncology settings may be vulnerable to expressive language difficulties. Shared reading interventions may represent a promising supportive approach for early language stimulation; however, further studies with larger samples and controlled designs are needed to better understand their potential contribution and effectiveness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diseases14060193","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T15:57:18Z","timestamp":1780070238000},"page":"193","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Early Language Development in Infants and Toddlers with Hemato-Oncological Diseases: Preliminary Outcomes of a Shared Reading Intervention"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0357-3290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giusy","family":"Melcarne","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"AIL Padova ODV, 35124 Padova, Italy"},{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5243-6074","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roberta Maria","family":"Incardona","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AIL Padova ODV, 35124 Padova, Italy"},{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Development and Social Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padova, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-4695-394X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giulia","family":"Marangon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"},{"name":"ANVOLT, Onlus Association, 20158 Milano, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Silvia","family":"Sorbara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandra","family":"Biffi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0392-4332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marta","family":"Tremolada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Center, Department of Woman\u2019s and Child\u2019s Health, University of Padua, 35127 Padova, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Development and Social Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padova, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1002\/dev.20058","article-title":"Critical period: A history of the transition from questions of when, to what, to how","volume":"46","author":"Michel","year":"2005","journal-title":"Dev. 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