Understanding Comorbidity Between Specific Learning Disabilities

Publication Date

5-9-2019

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

Keywords

Specific learning disability(SLD), Reading, Math, Writing, Developmental disorders, Comorbidity

Abstract

Current definitions of specific learning disability (SLD) identify a heterogeneous population that includes individuals with weaknesses in reading, math, or writing, and these academic difficulties often co‐occur in many of the same individuals. The Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center (CLDRC) is an interdisciplinary, multisite research program that uses converging levels of analysis to understand the genetic and environmental etiology, neuropsychology, and developmental outcomes of SLDs in reading (RD), math (MD), and writing (WD), along with the comorbidity between these SLDs and other developmental disorders. The latest results from the CLDRC twin study suggest that shared genetic influences contribute to the significant covariance between all aspects of reading (word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension) and math (calculations, math fluency, and word problems), and distinct genetic or environmental influences also contribute to weaknesses in each specific academic domain. RD and MD are associated with a range of negative outcomes on both concurrent measures and measures of functional outcomes completed 5 years after the twins were first assessed. Over the next several years the CLDRC will continue to expand on this work by administering a comprehensive test battery that includes measures of all dimensions of academic achievement that are described in current definitions of SLD and incorporating these measures in new neuroimaging and molecular genetic studies.

Copyright Date

5-9-2019

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:

Willcutt, E. G., McGrath, L. M., Pennington, B. F., Keenan, J. M., DeFries, J. C., Olson, R. K., & Wadsworth, S. J. (2019). Understanding comorbidity between specific learning disabilities. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2019(165), 91-109. https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20291

Accepted Manuscript is openly available through the "Link to Full Text" button.

The published Version of Record is available at libraries through Compass or Worldcat.

Rights Holder

Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Provenance

Received from CHORUS

Publication Title

New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development

Volume

2019

Issue

165

First Page

91

Last Page

109

ISSN

1534-8687

PubMed ID

31070302

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