Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.

Heritability estimates for specific language impairment (SLI) have been inconsistent. Four twin studies reported heritability of 0.5 or more, but a recent report from the Twins Early Development Study found negligible genetic influence in 4-year-olds. We considered whether the method of ascertainmen...

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Main Authors: Bishop, D, Hayiou-Thomas, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2008
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author Bishop, D
Hayiou-Thomas, M
author_facet Bishop, D
Hayiou-Thomas, M
author_sort Bishop, D
collection OXFORD
description Heritability estimates for specific language impairment (SLI) have been inconsistent. Four twin studies reported heritability of 0.5 or more, but a recent report from the Twins Early Development Study found negligible genetic influence in 4-year-olds. We considered whether the method of ascertainment influenced results and found substantially higher heritability if SLI was defined in terms of referral to speech and language pathology services than if defined by language test scores. Further analysis showed that presence of speech difficulties played a major role in determining whether a child had contact with services. Childhood language disorders that are identified by population screening are likely to have a different phenotype and different etiology from clinically referred cases. Genetic studies are more likely to find high heritability if they focus on cases who have speech difficulties and who have been referred for intervention.
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spelling oxford-uuid:3ddab9a0-9877-414e-ae0c-a4245f07eb7b2022-03-26T14:21:56ZHeritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:3ddab9a0-9877-414e-ae0c-a4245f07eb7bEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2008Bishop, DHayiou-Thomas, MHeritability estimates for specific language impairment (SLI) have been inconsistent. Four twin studies reported heritability of 0.5 or more, but a recent report from the Twins Early Development Study found negligible genetic influence in 4-year-olds. We considered whether the method of ascertainment influenced results and found substantially higher heritability if SLI was defined in terms of referral to speech and language pathology services than if defined by language test scores. Further analysis showed that presence of speech difficulties played a major role in determining whether a child had contact with services. Childhood language disorders that are identified by population screening are likely to have a different phenotype and different etiology from clinically referred cases. Genetic studies are more likely to find high heritability if they focus on cases who have speech difficulties and who have been referred for intervention.
spellingShingle Bishop, D
Hayiou-Thomas, M
Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title_full Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title_fullStr Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title_full_unstemmed Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title_short Heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria.
title_sort heritability of specific language impairment depends on diagnostic criteria
work_keys_str_mv AT bishopd heritabilityofspecificlanguageimpairmentdependsondiagnosticcriteria
AT hayiouthomasm heritabilityofspecificlanguageimpairmentdependsondiagnosticcriteria