The High Incidence of Reading Disability in Twin Boys and Its Implications for Genetic Analyses

Hay, David; O'Brien, Pauline J.; Johnston, C.J.; Prior, Margot

doi:10.1017/s0001566000007261

Cited by 43 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…It is well documented that twins are more likely to experience language and speech delays than singletons (2,4,7,10). Apart from prenatal and perinatal complications (12), the postnatal rearing environment is also likely to influence twins' language development, two important factors in this being the reduced opportunity for dual interaction with the mother and the competition that can exist between twins (14).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While some authors have argued that twins 'catch up'in their language development, recent research has shown that language problems can persist into adolescence. In an analysis of a large representative Australian educational survey, Hay et al (7) found twins, especially males, to have specific deficits in literacy and numeracy skills and to retain these throughout adolescence. These authors hypothesized a twin problem of impulsivity and attention that influenced performance across a broad range of academic tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are twins’ behavioural/emotional problems different from singletons’?

Moilanen

Linna

Ebeling

et al. 1999

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

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We compared twins with singletons in the National Epidemiological Child Psychiatric Study, which included 122 twins and 5455 singletons, born in 1981 and selected at random. Behavioural and emotional symptoms were assessed in 1989 on the basis of questionnaires filled in by the parents (Rutter Parent Questionnaire) (RA2), teachers (Rutter Teacher Questionnaire) (RB2) and the children themselves (Children's Depression Inventory) (CDI). Parents' reported proportions of probable behavioural/emotional disorders did not differ between the twin and singleton girls, but among the twin boys there was a nonsignificant trend of being more often probably disturbed. Twins were reported to be less disturbed than singletons according to the teachers' assessments. No difference was found between twins and singletons in their self-reports. When analysing parents' reported values of various sum scores, the twin boys obtained slightly higher scores than singletons, while twin girls scored significantly lower on total and emotional disturbances. Twin boys obtained lower mean scores than singletons for probable disorder in the teachers' evaluations, the differences arising mostly in the emotional area. The same type of trend, however nonsignificant, was found among the teachers' evaluations of girls. No significant difference was found in the mean scores for hyperactivity. This large population-based sample suggests that twins may have a lower rate of behavioural problems in childhood than singletons, a finding that has to be taken into account in behavioural genetic studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are twins’ behavioural/emotional problems different from singletons’?

Moilanen

Linna

Ebeling

et al. 1999

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

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“…Especi al l y i n the fi el d of cognitive abilities twins are generally considered to be at a di sadvantage compared w i th si ngl etons. [3][4][5][6] Tw i ns share the w omb at the same ti me and consequentl y share prenatal nutri ti on provi ded by the mother's di etary i ntake. When prepari ng for l abour, tw i ns compete for the best posi ti on.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 A rel ati vel y smal l number of studi es has been devoted to detecti ng tw i n-si ngl eton di fferences i n cogni ti on. 4,6,15 The one study that stands out w as conducted by Record, M cKeow n and Edw ards 6 who compared an i mpressi ve number of si ngl etons, tw i ns and even a few tri pl ets. Verbal reasoni ng scores from the Bri ti sh el even-pl us exami nati on w ere gathered from 48 913 si ngl etons, 1082 tw i n pai rs and el even tri pl ets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twin–singleton differences in intelligence?

Posthuma¹,

Geus²,

Bleichrodt

et al. 2000

twin res

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The tw i n method has been cr i ti ci sed for i ts al l eged non-gener al i sability. When population parameters of intellectual abilities are estimated from a twin sample, critics point to the twinsi ngl eton di ffer ences i n i ntr auter i ne and fami l y envi r onments. These di ffer ences ar e suggested to l ead to subopti mal cogni ti ve devel opment i n tw i ns. A l though pr evi ous studi es have r epor ted tw i nsi ngl eton di ffer ences i n i ntel l i gence, these studi es had tw o major dr aw back s: they tested young tw i ns, and tw i ns w er e compar ed w i th (geneti cal l y) unr el ated si ngl etons. To test accur atel y w hether tw i n-si ngl eton di ffer ences i n i ntel l i gence exi st, a gr oup of adul t tw i ns and thei r non-tw i n siblings were administered the Dutch WAIS-III. The group was large enough to detect twinsingleton differences of magnitudes reported in earlier investigations. The data were analysed using maximum likelihood model fitting. No evidence of differences between adult twins and their non-tw i n si bl i ngs on cogni ti ve per for mance w as found. I t i s concl uded that tw i n studi es pr ovi de reliable estimates of heritabilities of intellectual abilities which can be generalised to the singleton popul ati on. Twin Research (2000) 3, 83-87.

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“…Parental recall of early language development has been found to correlate 0.93 with the Goldman-Fristoe Test of articulation (Johnston et al, 1984). The reliability of such self-report measures has been discussed by .…”

Section: Speech and Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%