FAMILIAL RISK FOR ARTICULATION DISORDER

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This study will provide a better understanding of the genetic and enviromental factors that may contribute to the etiology of functional articulation disorders. Subjects will be drawn from a group of individuals who participated in a longitudinal study of articulation development conducted between 1960 and 1972. These individuals are now about 30 to 32 years old and most of them have families. Two groups will be identified from this original study; a proband group, consisting of individuals who displayed significant and persistent articulation disorders in childhood, and a control group, selected from individuals who performed above the mean on the articulation measures when they were children. The study proposed here will compare the current speech and language skills, education, and occupational status of the two groups, as well as the speech and language skills of their spouse and children. Analysis of the data will seek to determine 1) if there are outcome differences between adults who were articulation disordered as children and adults who were not, 2) the extent to which articulation and related disabilities aggregate in families, and 3) the reliability with which adults report on their childhood articulation status.