An investigation of the phenotypic and etiological relationships between autism and specific language impairment

TL;DRAbstract

[Truncated abstract] Recent findings that a subgroup of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has structural language deficits reminiscent of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have led some authors to claim that there is substantial shared etiology in these two conditions (Kjelgaard & Tager-Flusberg, 2001). A competing explanation is that the overlap between ASD and SLI is superficial (Whitehouse, Barry, & Bishop, 2007; Williams, Botting, & Boucher, 2008). While considerable research has examined overlap in the language phenotypes of ASD and SLI, limited attention has been paid to overlap in the cognitive domain. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were to (1) investigate possible points of overlap in the cognitive phenotypes of ASD and SLI, and (2) explore possible shared heritable risk factors for ASD and SLI in parents of both groups of children. The introductory chapters of this thesis comprise two literature reviews. Chapter 1 reviews the empirical literature th

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