Dr Simon Fisher, a Royal Society research fellow at the Wellcome TrustCentre, who led the research, said, 'It has been suspected thatinherited factors play an important role in childhood languagedisorders, but this is the first time that we have been able toimplicate variants of a specific gene in common forms of languageimpairment.'
An investigation into the a recognised language-related gene FOXP2,published online last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, foundthat particular variants of the CNTNAP2 gene were associated withlanguage deficits in families with Specific Language Impairment(SLI).
The researchers found that children who carried a certain variant of thegene displayed reduced language abilities and nonsense-word repetitioncommon in SLI.
The study also suggested the gene could be involved in language deficitsin autism.
It is hoped that the research could lead to the development for newtherapies and screening in the early years.
Virginia Beardshaw, chief executive of the children's speech andlanguage charity I CAN, said, 'Given the high number of young people inthe UK affected by specific language impairment and the wide-rangingimpact it has upon them, anything that increases the awareness of thislarge group of children is very important.'
Further information
www.nejm.org
