Genetic language disorders

Williams, Julie and Stevenson, Jim (2001) Genetic language disorders. In, Gerber, S.R. (ed.) The Handbook of Genetic Communicative Disorders. San Diego, USA. Academic Press, pp. 113-128. (doi:10.1016/B978-012280605-6/50008-1).

Abstract

A variety of disorders reflect abnormalities in the processing of language. Genetic research has concentrated on two of the main categories of language impairment disorders: focusing on specific language impairment (SLI) and specific reading disability (SRD). Current quantitative and molecular research in this area is producing many interesting findings that show strong evidence of the presence of a number of genes contributing to these disorders. SLI appears to be highly familiar, although the rates appear to change with the definition of SLI used. Although familiarity suggests a genetic contribution to SLI, it cannot be taken as a definitive proof as family similarities can stem from common environmental influences. SRD is usually characterized as a deficit of at least 2 years in reading age compared to that predicted from chronological age. A variety of cognitive components have been implicated in the development of SRD. These include deficits of visual processing and in the language processing. The conclusion derived is that genes play a significant role in the development of language disorders as demonstrated by specific language impairment and specific reading disability. Indeed, advances have identified chromosomal regions that show good evidence of containing susceptibility genes.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics