SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    The Genetic Specificity of Linguistic Heritability: Clues and Complexities  
Author(s)
Karin Stromswold - Rutgers University - New Brunswick

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2012
Presentation Type: Invited Speaker
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
Over the past several decades, the results of many behavioral and molecular genetic studies indicate that heritable factors play a substantial role in the linguistic development of children who do and do not have language disorders and delays. What is less clear is the extent to which these heritable factors are language-specific. In this talk, I will present data which suggest that some of the heritable factors that affect language development are quite specific to language whereas others affect both linguistic and non-linguistic development. Mapping genotypes onto linguistic phenotypes is clearly a complex and difficult endeavor. I will present a model of typical and atypical language development in which common alleles that contribute to language disorders in certain genetic and environmental conditions can result in a different type of neurodevelopmental disorder (or no disorder) in other conditions. For a group of related disorders (i.e., certain types of neurodevelopmental disorders), some genetic and environmental factors will be unique to a particular type of disorder (e.g., developmental language disorders) and some will be shared by several neurodevelopmental disorders.
Author Biosketch(es)