Developmental dyslexia (DD) and specific language impairment (SLI) are disorders of language that differ in diagnostic criteria and outcome. DD is defined by isolated reading deficits. SLI is defined by poor receptive and expressive oral language skills. Reading deficits, although prevalent, are not necessary for the diagnosis of SLI. An enduring question is whether these two disorders are qualitatively different or simply differ quantitatively along a dimension of severity. Here we address this problem by examining neuroanatomical correlates of reading and language in children with learning disabilities. We asked whether a quantitative anatomical risk index derived from previous work could predict behavioural profiles in a heterogeneous sample of 14 boys and 8 girls (11-16 years of age) with reading and language impairments. The results confirmed our predictions that (i) children with relatively smaller and symmetrical brain structures (negative risk indices) would have the severe comprehension impairments typical of SLI; (ii) children with larger, asymmetrical brain structures (positive risk indices) would have poor word reading in the presence of relatively preserved comprehension, a profile typical of DD; and (iii) the best performance would be seen in children with anatomical risk indices near zero (normal anatomy). Also, in confirmation of previous work, rapid automatic naming was not predicted by the anatomical risk index, but by anatomical measures derived from the frontal lobes. These results highlight the key significance of comprehension deficits in distinguishing DD from SLI. Reading impaired children with and without comprehension deficits appear to occupy neuroanatomical domains on the opposite sides of normal.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a quality of life instrument for longterm female cancer survivors. A factor analysis (n = 188) of 34 items resulted in the Long-Term Quality of Life (LTQL) instrument. Internal consistency was high for the four subscales: somatic concerns (alpha = .86), spiritual/philosophical views of life (alpha = .87), fitness (alpha = .92), and social support (alpha = .88). These four factors are congruent with Ferrell’s four theoretical domains of quality of life developed for women with breast cancer. Content validity was supported through interrater agreement of subscale items. Significant correlations between the LTQL and the CaRES, an established measure of quality of life, support the concurrent validity of the LTQL. Construct validity was supported by differential subscale scores according to demographic and health status data. Although the LTQL retained all of Ferrell’s four domains of quality of life (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) within one instrument, individual items reconfigured to suggest an overlapping of domains for the long-term female cancer survivor. This research suggests that the LTQL warrants further testing and may be a useful measure of quality of life in long-term female cancer survivors.