Heritability estimates of speech-language and reading-related phenotypes.
| Language domain . | Construct definition . | Measure description . | Heritability estimates . | Citations . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech/Language | ||||
| Spoken Language / Oral Skills | Includes measures of word object mapping, semantics (e.g., finding relationships between words), and morphosyntactic skills. | Relational vocabulary (from Test of Language Development, primary, 3rd ed.: TOLD-P:3) | 0.40–0.70 | Rice et al., 2018 |
| Verbal memory: the ability to recall what has been heard or read. | Story memory; sentence memory; nonword repetition. | 0.48–0.87 | Samuelsson et al., 2007 (3 samples) | |
| Semantics: includes measures of word object mapping, and understanding conceptual relationships between words. | Grammatic understanding task (from TOLD-P:3). | 0.10–0.70 | Rice et al., 2018 | |
| Oral skills composite | Composite performance on tasks assessing expressive and receptive vocabulary, naming abilities, and oral language skills. | 0.34 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 10 studies) | |
| Vocabulary size: receptive and expressive vocabulary size, tested directly or via parent-report checklist (in young children). | Receptive vocabulary skills; picture vocabulary comprehension; parent-reported vocabulary production. | 0.18–0.67 | Babajani-Feremi, 2017; Dale et al., 2018; Rice et al., 2018; Samuelsson et al., 2007 | |
| Impaired language achievement (in absence of other developmental or sensory impairments). | Low performance on receptive language (e.g., vocabulary and grammar), expressive language (e.g., vocabulary, morphosyntax and grammar). | 0.45 | Tomblin & Buckwalter, 1998 | |
| Language impairments with speech-language pathologist (SLP) referral. | Low performance (relative to sample mean) on a language battery, in addition to having received speech language therapy or other speech pathologist services by age 7 yrs. | 0.96–0.97 | Bishop & Hayiou-Thomas, 2008 | |
| Verbal ability | Verbal fluency: includes general fluency and semantic-specific fluency components. | Phonemic fluency (how many words can you write beginning with one letter and ending with another in the time limit); semantic fluency (list as many names of things in a category). | 0.65–0.80 | Gustavson et al., 2019 |
| Verbal ability: tests of overall verbal knowledge, comprehension, and fluency, tested through conceptual tests. | Odd one out tests; synonym tests; vocabulary tests; or verbal fluency tests. | 0.60 | Gustavson et al., 2021; Wesseldijk et al., 2021 | |
| Language comprehension | Story comprehension (the ability to listen to a story or narrative and accurately answer questions about its content, i.e., comprehend it). | 0.32 | Babajani-Feremi, 2017 | |
| Speech production | Speech articulation: ability to articulate real consonant sounds in single words and conversational speech, both spontaneously and through imitation. | Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation. | 0.25–0.60 | Rice et al., 2018; Stein et al., 2011 |
| Speech abilities | Low performance (relative to sample mean) on a speech composite consisting of a speech articulation task and a nonword repetition task (also taps phonological working memory). | 0.56 | Bishop & Hayiou-Thomas, 2008; Hayiou-Thomas, 2008 | |
| Reading | ||||
| Accuracy and speed of reading | Reading composite | Combination of letter-word knowledge, phonological decoding, and reading comprehension phenotypes. | 0.66 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 48 studies) |
| Letter-word knowledge: the recognition and identification of how letters form words (called “general reading construct” in paper). | Oral reading recognition; letter/word identification. | 0.56–0.62 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 32 studies); Babajani-Feremi, 2017 | |
| Phonological decoding: the ability to break written words into sounds or syllables based on the phonemic representations of your language to support word recognition. | Irregular word decoding; phoneme decoding. | 0.68 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 13 studies) | |
| Reading comprehension: the ability to understand and process written text. | Text/story comprehension; reading achievement. | 0.68 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 32 studies) | |
| Print knowledge | Knowledge about the rules of print. | Left-to-right reading; letter recognition, environmental print exposure; concepts about print. | 0.26 | Samuelsson et al., 2007 |
| Phonological awareness | Processing speech and phonological/lexical retrieval. | Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP); syllable and phoneme blending; word elision; syllable and phoneme elision; rhyme recognition; phoneme isolation; phonemic deletion; rhyme recognition; phonemic segmentation. | 0.46–0.64 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 13 studies); Samuelsson et al., 2007 (3 samples) |
| Literacy | Composite performance on standardized reading, writing, speaking, and listening tasks, assessed through teacher evaluations, and testing via telephone and internet. | Reading fluency (reading simple sentences); literal comprehension of sentences; analysis of written text. | 0.68–0.77 | Kovas et al., 2013 |
| Spelling: the ability to form words with the correct order of letters. | Orthographic decoding, regular/irregular spelling. | 0.80–0.91 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 15 studies); Lewis et al., 2018 | |
| Conversational language productivity | Length and complexity of children’s utterances in conversation, usually computed as the mean number of morphemes in utterances sampled. | 0.17–0.61 | Dale et al., 2018; DeThorne et al., 2012 | |
| Grammar | ||||
| Morphosyntactic abilities | Expressive and receptive skills relating to how words are formed and how the order of words results in understandable phrases and clauses. May include tasks where whole sentences need to be accurately recalled, tapping morphosyntax skills. | Sentence complexity; grammatical property of finiteness marking; grammatical knowledge; productive morphology. | 0.36–0.92 | Bishop et al., 2006; Dale et al., 2000; Rice et al., 2018; Samuelsson et al., 2007 |
| Low performance on grammatical/morphosyntactic tests, or indicated by tests designed to screen or measure grammatical impairment. | Grammatical property of finiteness marking; third-person singular; past tense obligatory use; receptive grammar. | 0.31–1.0 | Bishop et al., 1995; Dale et al., 2018; Rice et al., 2018 | |
| Language domain . | Construct definition . | Measure description . | Heritability estimates . | Citations . |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech/Language | ||||
| Spoken Language / Oral Skills | Includes measures of word object mapping, semantics (e.g., finding relationships between words), and morphosyntactic skills. | Relational vocabulary (from Test of Language Development, primary, 3rd ed.: TOLD-P:3) | 0.40–0.70 | Rice et al., 2018 |
| Verbal memory: the ability to recall what has been heard or read. | Story memory; sentence memory; nonword repetition. | 0.48–0.87 | Samuelsson et al., 2007 (3 samples) | |
| Semantics: includes measures of word object mapping, and understanding conceptual relationships between words. | Grammatic understanding task (from TOLD-P:3). | 0.10–0.70 | Rice et al., 2018 | |
| Oral skills composite | Composite performance on tasks assessing expressive and receptive vocabulary, naming abilities, and oral language skills. | 0.34 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 10 studies) | |
| Vocabulary size: receptive and expressive vocabulary size, tested directly or via parent-report checklist (in young children). | Receptive vocabulary skills; picture vocabulary comprehension; parent-reported vocabulary production. | 0.18–0.67 | Babajani-Feremi, 2017; Dale et al., 2018; Rice et al., 2018; Samuelsson et al., 2007 | |
| Impaired language achievement (in absence of other developmental or sensory impairments). | Low performance on receptive language (e.g., vocabulary and grammar), expressive language (e.g., vocabulary, morphosyntax and grammar). | 0.45 | Tomblin & Buckwalter, 1998 | |
| Language impairments with speech-language pathologist (SLP) referral. | Low performance (relative to sample mean) on a language battery, in addition to having received speech language therapy or other speech pathologist services by age 7 yrs. | 0.96–0.97 | Bishop & Hayiou-Thomas, 2008 | |
| Verbal ability | Verbal fluency: includes general fluency and semantic-specific fluency components. | Phonemic fluency (how many words can you write beginning with one letter and ending with another in the time limit); semantic fluency (list as many names of things in a category). | 0.65–0.80 | Gustavson et al., 2019 |
| Verbal ability: tests of overall verbal knowledge, comprehension, and fluency, tested through conceptual tests. | Odd one out tests; synonym tests; vocabulary tests; or verbal fluency tests. | 0.60 | Gustavson et al., 2021; Wesseldijk et al., 2021 | |
| Language comprehension | Story comprehension (the ability to listen to a story or narrative and accurately answer questions about its content, i.e., comprehend it). | 0.32 | Babajani-Feremi, 2017 | |
| Speech production | Speech articulation: ability to articulate real consonant sounds in single words and conversational speech, both spontaneously and through imitation. | Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation. | 0.25–0.60 | Rice et al., 2018; Stein et al., 2011 |
| Speech abilities | Low performance (relative to sample mean) on a speech composite consisting of a speech articulation task and a nonword repetition task (also taps phonological working memory). | 0.56 | Bishop & Hayiou-Thomas, 2008; Hayiou-Thomas, 2008 | |
| Reading | ||||
| Accuracy and speed of reading | Reading composite | Combination of letter-word knowledge, phonological decoding, and reading comprehension phenotypes. | 0.66 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 48 studies) |
| Letter-word knowledge: the recognition and identification of how letters form words (called “general reading construct” in paper). | Oral reading recognition; letter/word identification. | 0.56–0.62 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 32 studies); Babajani-Feremi, 2017 | |
| Phonological decoding: the ability to break written words into sounds or syllables based on the phonemic representations of your language to support word recognition. | Irregular word decoding; phoneme decoding. | 0.68 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 13 studies) | |
| Reading comprehension: the ability to understand and process written text. | Text/story comprehension; reading achievement. | 0.68 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 32 studies) | |
| Print knowledge | Knowledge about the rules of print. | Left-to-right reading; letter recognition, environmental print exposure; concepts about print. | 0.26 | Samuelsson et al., 2007 |
| Phonological awareness | Processing speech and phonological/lexical retrieval. | Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP); syllable and phoneme blending; word elision; syllable and phoneme elision; rhyme recognition; phoneme isolation; phonemic deletion; rhyme recognition; phonemic segmentation. | 0.46–0.64 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 13 studies); Samuelsson et al., 2007 (3 samples) |
| Literacy | Composite performance on standardized reading, writing, speaking, and listening tasks, assessed through teacher evaluations, and testing via telephone and internet. | Reading fluency (reading simple sentences); literal comprehension of sentences; analysis of written text. | 0.68–0.77 | Kovas et al., 2013 |
| Spelling: the ability to form words with the correct order of letters. | Orthographic decoding, regular/irregular spelling. | 0.80–0.91 | Andreola et al., 2021 (meta-analysis of 15 studies); Lewis et al., 2018 | |
| Conversational language productivity | Length and complexity of children’s utterances in conversation, usually computed as the mean number of morphemes in utterances sampled. | 0.17–0.61 | Dale et al., 2018; DeThorne et al., 2012 | |
| Grammar | ||||
| Morphosyntactic abilities | Expressive and receptive skills relating to how words are formed and how the order of words results in understandable phrases and clauses. May include tasks where whole sentences need to be accurately recalled, tapping morphosyntax skills. | Sentence complexity; grammatical property of finiteness marking; grammatical knowledge; productive morphology. | 0.36–0.92 | Bishop et al., 2006; Dale et al., 2000; Rice et al., 2018; Samuelsson et al., 2007 |
| Low performance on grammatical/morphosyntactic tests, or indicated by tests designed to screen or measure grammatical impairment. | Grammatical property of finiteness marking; third-person singular; past tense obligatory use; receptive grammar. | 0.31–1.0 | Bishop et al., 1995; Dale et al., 2018; Rice et al., 2018 | |
Note. Table shows moderate heritability of speech/language and reading phenotypes. Each heritability estimate provided indicates the percentage of overall variance in the trait that is genetically influenced, as computed by twin and family-based studies cited here. Broad definitions for constructs are provided, and corresponding phenotypic measures corresponding to each speech-language and reading construct of interest are outlined. TOLD-P:3: Test of Language Development, Primary, 3rd ed. (Newcomer & Hammill, 1997). Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation, 2nd ed. (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000). CTOPP: Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Wagner et al., 1999).