Rice M L, Haney K R, Wexler K
University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045, USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1998 Apr;41(2):419-32. doi: 10.1044/jslhr.4102.419.
Previous family history studies have demonstrated that there are elevated rates of language and language-related impairments in families identified through probands with language impairments. This study examines family histories of children with specific language impairment (SLI) known to have particular grammatical limitations in a core feature of grammatical acquisition, a stage known as Extended Optional Infinitives (EOI). Family affectedness rates are reported for 31 families identified through preschool probands with this clearly defined language impairment and 67 control families, identified through nonaffected preschool children developmentally similar to the probands. It was found that significantly more speech and language difficulties, as well as language-related difficulties, such as reading, were reported for proband families than control families. The elevated rates were obtained for nuclear family members and extended family members as well. Fathers of probands were more often reported as having difficulties (29% for speech/language impairments) than were mothers of probands (7%), but there was no difference between brothers (26%) and sisters (29%). No differences were evident between proband families based on proband gender. The findings are relevant for theoretical models of sources of unexplained variations in grammatical competence in young children. In addition, the findings contribute new information about expected rates of affectedness, means of identification of affected family members, and comorbidity of symptomatology.
以往的家族史研究表明，在通过语言障碍先证者确定的家族中，语言及与语言相关的障碍发生率较高。本研究调查了患有特定语言障碍（SLI）的儿童的家族史，这些儿童在语法习得的一个核心特征——被称为扩展可选不定式（EOI）的阶段，存在特定的语法限制。报告了通过患有明确界定语言障碍的学龄前先证者确定的31个家族以及通过与先证者发育情况相似的未受影响学龄前儿童确定的67个对照家族的家族患病比例。结果发现，与对照家族相比，先证者家族中报告的言语和语言困难以及与语言相关的困难（如阅读困难）明显更多。核心家庭成员和大家庭成员的患病比例也有所升高。先证者的父亲比先证者的母亲更常被报告有困难（言语/语言障碍的比例为29%，而母亲为7%），但兄弟（26%）和姐妹（29%）之间没有差异。基于先证者性别的先证者家族之间没有明显差异。这些发现与幼儿语法能力中无法解释的变异来源的理论模型相关。此外，这些发现提供了有关预期患病比例、受影响家庭成员的识别方法以及症状共病的新信息。
