Heritability and longitudinal outcomes of spelling skills in individuals with histories of early speech and language disorders

Abstract

This study examined the spelling skills in middle childhood and adolescence in individuals with histories of early childhood speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without language impairment (LI). Youth without such histories were also included (No SSD/LI group). The heritability of spelling skills at each age level was estimated. Children with SSD were classified as SSD-only, SSD with LI but without childhood apraxia of speech (SSD + LI/ No CAS), and CAS and LI (CAS + LI). The SSD-only group did not differ in spelling from the No SSD/LI group, suggesting that SSD-only did not increase risk for poor spelling. The SSD + LI/No CAS and CAS + LI groups had poorer spelling skills than the SSD-only and No SSD/LI groups. Spelling was associated with phonological awareness in the middle childhood and adolescent samples and with rapid automatized naming in the adolescent sample. Heritability of spelling skills was stronger in adolescence than in middle childhood. Differences in the correlates of spelling and in heritability at the two ages suggest developmental changes in the factors contributing to spelling.

Association between genes regulating neural pathways for quantitative traits of speech and language disorders

“…The strongest replications were for a variety of measures collected in CFSRS with ALSPAC from older youth. Consistent with these findings, we previously demonstrated that spelling at later ages has a higher estimated heritability than spelling at school-age 11 . Measures administered in older youth may also be more sensitive to variations in clinical manifestation of SSD.…”

“…of age 2 , with an estimated 3.8% of children persisting with speech delay at 6 years of age 3 . More than half of these children encounter later academic difficulties in language, reading, and spelling 7-11 . Because of the relative rarity of persistent speech problems and their correlation with other communication domains, endophenotypes are key to the study of genetic underpinnings.…”

“…Thus, speech, language, reading, and spelling measures are highly correlated and often have common genetic associations 9,10 . Moreover, speech and other communication phenotypes follow a developmental trajectory, where some speech and language disorders resolve with age, whereas others persist; genetic influences on the less easily resolved manifestations are generally stronger 11,12 . Because of the common genetic underpinnings and pathologic associations between speech and other communication phenotypes, it is conceivable that genetic replication interweaves with different communication measures.…”

Describing How School-Based SLPs Determine Eligibility for Children with Speech Sound Disorders

“…However, this population of children often experiences deficits in reading, spelling, and social-emotional well-being. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Thus, eligibility for services must take into consideration factors such as the connections between SSDs and reading 16 and the social implications of an SSD. Further, IDEA is explicit that eligibility is a team decision and that the team includes qualified professionals (e.g., classroom teacher, SLP) and the child's parent(s) ( § 614, b, 4, A).…”

Association between genes regulating neural pathways for quantitative traits of speech and language disorders

“…Thus, speech, language, reading, and spelling measures are highly correlated and often have common genetic associations 7 , 8 . Moreover, speech and other communication phenotypes follow a developmental trajectory, where some speech and language disorders resolve with age, whereas others persist; genetic influences on the less easily resolved manifestations are generally stronger 12 , 13 . Because of the common genetic underpinnings and pathologic associations between speech and other communication phenotypes, it is conceivable that genetic replication interweaves with different communication measures.…”