Nonword Repetition as a Behavioural Marker for Inherited Language Impairment: Evidence From a Twin Study

Dorothy Bishop, T. North, Chris Donlan

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · 1996 · 674 citations · 34 references

Concepts

TL;DR

The Children's Nonword Repetition Test was administered to 39 children with persistent language impairment, 13 with resolved impairment, and 79 controls aged 7–9 years, all of whom were twins from a prior genetic study. Both resolved and persistent language‑impaired children performed significantly worse on the CNRep, and twin comparisons revealed a significant heritable component, supporting CNRep as a marker of heritable developmental language impairment.

Abstract

The Children's Nonword Repetition Test (CNRep) was given to 39 children with persistent language impairment (LI), 13 with a history of having received speech‐language therapy (resolved LI), and 79 controls, all aged from 7 to 9 years. The children with LI were twins who had participated in a previous genetic study. Children with resolved LI, as well as those with persistent LI. were significantly impaired on the CNRep. Comparisons of MZ and DZ twins indicated significant heritability of a CNRep deficit. It is concluded that CNRep provides a marker of the phenotype of heritable forms of developmental language impairment.

References

34