About the Center

The long-range objectives of the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center (CLDRC) are the identification, characterization, validation and amelioration of reading disabilities and ADHD, the two most prevalent and often co-morbid disorders of childhood. To accomplish these objectives, the CLDRC employs a unique approach that assesses the extent to which genetic and environmental influences underlie these disorders, and that uses covariation in etiology to understand whether deficits in component skills of reading are manifestations of a single syndrome or represent separate subtypes.

Test batteries that include psychometric measures of cognitive and academic abilities (Project I), reading, writing, and language processes (Project II), and ADHD and executive functions (Project III) are being administered to a sample of identical and fraternal twins and their siblings in which at least one member of each twin pair has a reading disability, to an independent sample of twins and their siblings in which at least one member of each twin pair has ADHD, and to a comparison group of twins and their siblings with no school history of reading disabilities or ADHD. Resulting data are being used to assess the etiologies of reading deficits (including word recognition skills, reading fluency, comprehension, and writing), ADHD, and their comorbidity, as well as their covariation with measures of phoneme awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and executive functions.

In order to map quantitative trait loci that influence learning disabilities, and conduct association and mutation analyses, DNA samples are being obtained from families of all twin pairs (Project IV). Project V is assessing response to computer-assisted instruction in early (K-4th) at-risk readers. Response to instruction in project V is also being studied in the Project IV molecular-genetic analyses. An administrative core unit coordinates the activities of the five research projects, ascertaining and scheduling subjects, obtaining questionnaire data and DNA samples, and administering the Center budget. Reading disabilities and ADHD are important public health problems. The research in the CLDRC will advance our understanding of their etiology and remediation.

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