The Genetics of Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Ron Nudel | Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, OX3 7BN
Fabiola Ceroni | Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, OX3 7BN
Nuala Simpson | Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, OX3 7BN
Dianne Newbury | Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, OX3 7BN
Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child has major problems
in learning to talk and/or understand language, despite showing normal
development in all other areas (Bishop 2006). In this chapter we will discuss
recent research on the genetics of SLI. We will introduce methods used in
human genetics and describe studies in which these methods were applied. We
will discuss how emerging genetic technologies may be used to investigate the
molecular basis of neurodevelopmental disorders and elucidate the biological
mechanisms influencing linguistic traits.