Abstract
Reading Disability (RD) and Math Disability (MD) have been associated with negative consequences for academic achievement, job quality, social relationships and mental health (Boetsch, Green, & Pennington, 1996; White, Moffitt, & Silva, 1992). Because RD and MD co-occur in 30–70% of individuals (Badian, 1999; Kovas, Haworth et al., 2007; Landerl & Moll, 2010; White, Moffitt, & Silva, 1992), the purpose of this chapter is to examine the comorbidity and independence of reading and math skills from a behavioural genetics perspective. First, the chapter will describe the behavioural genetic approach, discussing the genetic and environmental etiology of RD and MD, as well as of wider reading and math skills. Second, the chapter will discuss multivariate genetic studies of the relationship between math and reading ability/disability. Third the chapter will examine molecular genetic studies, and the promise of neurobiological markers for understanding the genetic and environmental underpinnings of reading and math ability/disability. Finally, conclusions and implications for educational practice will be discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alarcon, M., DeFries, J. C., Light, J. G., & Pennington, B. F. (1997). A twin study of mathematics disability. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30 (6), 617–623.
Ansari, D. (2010). Neurocognitive approaches to developmental disorders of numerical and mathematical cognition: The perils of neglecting the role of development. Learning and Individual Differences, 20 (2), 123–129.
Badian, N. (1999). Persistent arithmetic, reading, or arithmetic and reading disability. Annals of Dyslexia, 49 (1), 43–70.
Beneventi, H., Tonnessen, F. E., & Ersland, L. (2009). Dyslexic children show short-term memory deficits in phonological storage and serial rehearsal: An fMRI study. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119 (11), 2017–2043.
Boetsch, E. A., Green, P. A., & Pennington, B. F. (1996). Psychosocial correlates of dyslexia across the life span. Development and Psychopathology, 8 (03), 539–562.
Cantlon, J. F., Libertus, M. E., Pinel, P., Dehaene, S., Brannon, E. M., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2009). The neural development of an abstract concept of number. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21 (11), 2217–2229.
Cirino, P. T., Morris, M. K., & Morris, R. D. (2007). Semantic, executive, and visuospa-tial abilities in mathematical reasoning of referred college students. Assessment, 14 (1), 94–104.
Davis, C., Gayan, J., Knopik, V. S., Smith, S. D., Cardon, L. R., Pennington, B. F., …, & DeFries, J. C. (2001). Etiology of reading difficulties and rapid naming: The Colorado Twin Study of Reading Disability. Behavior Genetics, 31 (6), 625–635.
DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1985). Multiple regression analysis of twin data. Behavior Genetics, 15 (5), 467–473.
DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1988). Multiple regression analysis of twin data: Etiology of deviant scores versus individual differences. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae: Twin Research, 37 (3–4), 205–216.
Dehaene, S., Piazza, M., Pinel, P., & Cohen, L. (2003). Three parietal circuits for number processing. Special Issue: The Organisation of Conceptual Knowledge in the Brain: Neuropsychological and Neuroimaging Perspectives, 20 (3–6), 487–506.
Docherty, S. J., Davis, O. S. P., Kovas, Y., Meaburn, E. L., Dale, P. S., Petrill, S. A., …, & Plomin, R. (2010). A genome-wide association study identifies multiple loci associated with mathematics ability and disability. Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 9 (2), 234–247.
Docherty, S. J., Kovas, Y., Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (2010). Generalist genes analysis of DNA markers associated with mathematical ability and disability reveals shared influence across ages and abilities. BMC Genetics, 11, 61–61.
Fiez, J. A., & Petersen, S. E. (1998). Neuroimaging studies of word reading. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95 (3), 914–921.
Geary, D. C. (2010). Mathematical disabilities: Reflections on cognitive, neuropsy-chological, and genetic components. Learning and Individual Differences, 20 (2), 130–133.
Geary, D. C., Bailey, D. H., & Hoard, M. K. (2009). Predicting mathematical achievement and mathematical learning disability with a simple screening tool: The Number Sets Test. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27 (3), 265.
Georgiewa, P., Rzanny, R., Gaser, C., Gerhard, U. J., Vieweg, U., Freesmeyer, D., …, & Blanz, B. (2002). Phonological processing in dyslexic children: a study combining functional imaging and event related potentials. Neuroscience Letters, 318 (1), 5–8.
Halberda, J., Ly, R., Wilmer, J. B., Naiman, D. Q., & Germine, L. (2012). Number sense across the lifespan as revealed by a massive Internet-based sample. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (28), 11116–11120.
Halberda, J., Mazzocco, M. M. M., & Feigenson, L. (2008). Individual differences in non-verbal number acuity correlate with maths achievement. Nature, 455.
Hardy, J., & Singleton, A. (2009). Genome-wide association and human disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 360, 1759–1768.
Hart, S. A., Petrill, S. A., & Thompson, L. A. (2010). A factorial analysis of timed and untimed measures of mathematics and reading abilities in school aged twins. Learning and Individual Differences, 20 (2), 63–69.
Hart, S. A., Petrill, S. A., Thompson, L. A., & Plomin, R. (2009). The ABCs of math: A genetic analysis of mathematics and its links with reading ability and general cognitive ability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101 (2), 388–402.
Haworth, C. M. A., Kovas, Y., Harlaar, N., Hayiou-Thomas, M. E., Petrill, S. A., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R. (2009). Generalist genes and learning disabilities: a multivariate genetic analysis of low performance in reading, mathematics, language and general cognitive ability in a sample of 8000 12-year-old twins. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 50 (10), 1318–1325.
Haworth, C. M. A., Kovas, Y., Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (2007). Developmental origins of low mathematics performance and normal variation in twins from 7 to 9 years. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 10 (1), 106–117.
Hinshelwood, J. (1911). Two Cases of Hereditary Congenital Word-Blindness. British Medical Journal, 1 (2620), 608–609.
Holloway, I. D., & Ansari, D. (2010). Developmental specialization in the right intra-parietal sulcus for the abstract representation of numerical magnitude. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22 (11), 2627–2637.
Houde, O., Rossi, S., Lubin, A., & Joliot, M. (2010). Mapping numerical processing, reading, and executive functions in the developing brain: An fMRI meta-analysis of 52 studies including 842 children. Developmental Science, 13 (6), 876–885.
Jordan, N. C., & Hanich, L. B. (2003). Characteristics of children with moderate mathematics deficiencies: A longitudinal perspective. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 18 (4), 213–221.
Knopik, V. S., Alarcon, M., & DeFries, J. C. (1997). Comorbidity of mathematics and reading deficits: evidence for a genetic etiology. Behavior Genetics, 27 (5), 447–453.
Knopik, V. S., & DeFries, J. C. (1999). Etiology of covariation between reading and mathematics performance: a twin study. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 2, 226–234.
Koten Jr, J. W., Wood, G., Hagoort, P., Goebel, R., Propping, P., Willmes, K., & Boomsma, D. I. (2009). Genetic contribution to variation in cognitive function: an fMRI study in twins. Science, 323 (5922), 1737.
Kovas, Y., Haworth, C. M. A., Harlaar, N., Petrill, S. A., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R. (2007). Overlap and specificity of genetic and environmental influences on mathematics and reading disability in 10-year-old twins. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48 (9), 914–922.
Kovas, Y., Haworth, C. M. A., Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (2007). Mathematical ability of 10-year-old boys and girls: Genetic and environmental etiology of typical and low performance. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40 (6), 554–567.
Landerl, K., & Moll, K. (2010). Comorbidity of learning disorders: prevalence and familial transmission. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51 (3), 287–294.
Lemelin, J.-P., Boivin, M., Forget-Dubois, N., Dionne, G., Séguin, J. R., Brendgen, M., …, & Pérusse, D. (2007). The genetic-environmental etiology of cognitive school readiness and later academic achievement in early childhood. Child Development, 78 (6), 1855–1869.
Loehlin, J. C., & Nichols, R. C. (1976). Heredity, Environment, & Personality: A Study of 850 Sets of Twins. University of Texas Press.
Maher, B. (2008). Personal genomes: The case of the missing heritability. Nature, 456 (7218), 18–21.
Marino, C., Mascheretti, S., Riva, V., Cattaneo, F., Rigoletto, C., Rusconi, M., …, & Molteni, M. (2011). Pleiotropic effects of DCDC2 and DYX1C1 genes on language and mathematics traits in nuclear families of developmental dyslexia. Behavior Genetics, 41 (1), 67–76.
Mazzocco, M. M. M., Devlin, K. T., & McKenney, S. J. (2008). Is it a fact? Timed arithmetic performance of children with mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) varies as a function of how MLD is defined. Developmental Neuropsychology, 33 (3), 318–344.
Mazzocco, M. M. M., Feigenson, L., & Halberda, J. (2011). Impaired acuity of the approximate number system underlies mathematical learning disability (dyscal-culia). Child Development, 82 (4), 1224–1237.
Meyler, A., Keller, T. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Lee, D., Hoeft, F., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., …, & Just, M. A. (2007). Brain activation during sentence comprehension among good and poor readers. Cerebral Cortex, 17 (12), 2780–2787.
Moll, K., Fussenegger, B., Willburger, E., & Landerl, K. (2009). RAN is not a measure of orthographic processing: Evidence from the asymmetric German orthography. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13 (1), 1–25.
Morgan, W. P. (1896). A Case of Congenital Word Blindness. British Medical Journal, 2 (1871), 1378.
National Reading Panel (US), National Institute of Child Health, & Human Development (US). (2000). Report of the national reading panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.
Newbury, D., Paracchini, S., Scerri, T., Winchester, L., Addis, L., Richardson, A., …, & Monaco, A. (2011). Investigation of dyslexia and SLI risk variants in reading- and language-impaired subjects. Behavior Genetics, 41 (1), 90–104.
Oliver, B., Harlaar, N., Hayiou Thomas, M. E., Kovas, Y., Walker, S. O., Petrill, S. A., …, & Plomin, R. (2004). A twin study of teacher-reported mathematics performance and low performance in 7-year-olds. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96 (3), 504–517.
Olson, R. K., Gillis, J. J., Rack, J. P., DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1991). Confirmatory factor analysis of word recognition and process measures in the Colorado Reading Project. Reading and Writing, 3, 235–248.
Pennington, B. F. (1999). Toward an integrated understanding of dyslexia: Genetic, neurological, and cognitive mechanisms. Development and Psychopathology, 11 (03), 629–654.
Pennington, B. F., & Olson, R. K. (2005). Genetics of Dyslexia. In M. J. Snowling & C. Hulme (Eds), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 453–472).
Petrill, S., Logan, J., Hart, S., Vincent, P., Thompson, L., Kovas, Y., & Plomin, R. (2012). Math fluency is etiologically distinct from untimed math performance, decoding fluency, and untimed reading performance: evidence from a twin study. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45 (4), 371–381.
Petrill, S. A., & Plomin, R. (2007). Quantitative genetics and mathematical abilities/ disabilities. In D. B. Berch & M. M. M. Mazzocco (Eds), Why is math so hard for some children? The nature and origins of mathematical learning difficulties and disabilities (pp. 307–322).
Plomin, R. (1991). Genetic risk and psychosocial disorders: Links between the normal and abnormal. In M. Rutter & P. Casaer (Eds), Biological risk factors for psychosocial disorders (pp. 101–138).
Plomin, R., & Kovas, Y. (2005). Generalist genes and learning disabilities. Psychological Bulletin, 131 (4), 592–617.
Plomin, R., Owen, M. J., & McGuffin, P. (1994). The genetic basis of complex human behaviors. Science, 264 (5166), 1733–1739.
Poelmans, G., Buitelaar, J. K., Pauls, D. L., & Franke, B. (2011). A theoretical molecular network for dyslexia: integrating available genetic findings. Mol. Psychiatry, 16, 365–382. 10.1038/mp.2010.105
Pugh, K. R., Mencl, W. E., Jenner, A. R., Katz, L., Frost, S. J., Lee, J. R., …, & Shaywitz, B. A. (2000). Functional neuroimaging studies of reading and reading disability (developmental dyslexia). Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 6 (3), 207–213.
Rezaie, R., Simos, P. G., Fletcher, J. M., Cirino, P. T., Vaughn, S., Papanicolaou, A. C., & others (2011). Temporo-parietal brain activity as a longitudinal predictor of response to educational interventions among middle school struggling readers. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17 (5), 875–885.
Richlan, F., Kronbichler, M., & Wimmer, H. (2009). Functional abnormalities in the dyslexic brain: A quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Human Brain Mapping, 30 (10), 3299–3308.
Rimrodt, S. L., Clements-Stephens, A. M., Pugh, K. R., Courtney, S. M., Gaur, P., Pekar, J. J., & Cutting, L. E. (2009). Functional MRI of sentence comprehension in children with dyslexia: beyond word recognition. Cerebral Cortex, 19 (2), 402–413.
Rosselli, M., Matute, E., Pinto, N., & Ardila, A. (2006). Memory abilities in children with subtypes of dyscalculia. Developmental Neuropsychology, 30 (3), 801–818.
Rumsey, J. M., Nace, K., Donohue, B., Wise, D., Maisog, J. M., & Andreason, P. (1997). A positron emission tomographic study of impaired word recognition and phonological processing in dyslexic men. Archives of Neurology, 54 (5), 562–573.
Schmithorst, V. J., & Brown, R. D. (2004). Empirical validation of the triple-code model of numerical processing for complex math operations using functional MRI and group Independent Component Analysis of the mental addition and subtraction of fractions. NeuroImage, 22 (3), 1414–1420.
Siegler, R. S., & Opfer, J. E. (2003). The development of numerical estimation: Evidence for multiple representations of numerical quantity. Psychological Science, 14 (3), 237–243.
Simos, P. G., Papanicolaou, A. C., Castillo, E. M., Breier, J. I., Fletcher, J. M., Wheless, J. W., …, & Constantinou, J. E. (2002). [Insights into brain function though magnetic source imaging: A review of research and clinical applications]. Revista de Neurologia, 34 (9), 871–876.
Stanescu-Cosson, R., Pinel, P., Moortele, P.-F. v. d., Le Bihan, D., Cohen, L., & Dehaene, S. (2000). Understanding dissociations in dyscalculia. A brain imaging study of the impact of number size on the cerebral networks for exact and approximate calculation. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 123 (11), 2240–2255.
Stevenson, J. (1991). Which aspects of processing text mediate genetic effects? Special Issue: Genetic and neurological influences on reading disability, 3 (3–4), 249–269.
Stevenson, J., Graham, P., Fredman, G., & McLoughlin, V. (1987). A twin study of genetic influences on reading and spelling ability and disability. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28 (2), 229–247.
Storch, S. A., & Whitehurst, G. J. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: Evidence from a longitudinal structural model. Developmental Psychology, 38 (6), 934–947.
Stuebing, K. K., Fletcher, J. M., LeDoux, J. M., Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2002). Validity of IQ-discrepancy classifications of reading disabilities: A meta-analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 39 (2), 469–518.
Swanson, H. L., & Jerman, O. (2007). The influence of working memory on reading growth in subgroups of children with reading disabilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96 (4), 249–283.
Thompson, L. A., Detterman, D. K., & Plomin, R. (1991). Associations between cognitive abilities and scholastic achievement: Genetic overlap but environmental differences. Psychological Science, 2 (3), 158–165.
Topper, S., Ober, C., & Das, S. (2011). Exome sequencing and the genetics of intellectual disability. Clinical Genetics, 80 (2), 117–126.
Turkletaub, P. E., Gareau, L., Flowers, D. L., Zeffiro, T. A., & Eden, G. F. (2003). Development of neural mechanisms for reading. Nature Neuroscience, 6 (6), 767–773.
Van der Sluis, S., de Jong, P. F., & van der Leij, A. (2004). Inhibition and shifting in children with learning deficits in arithmetic and reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87 (3), 239–266.
Vandenberg, S. G. (1962). The hereditary abilities study: hereditary components in a psychological test battery. American Journal of Human Genetics, 14 (2), 220–237.
White, J. L., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1992). Neuropsychological and socio-emotional correlates of specific-arithmetic disability. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 7, 1–16.
Wolf, R. C., Sambataro, F., Lohr, C., Steinbrink, C., Martin, C., & Vasic, N. (2010). Functional brain network abnormalities during verbal working memory performance in adolescents and young adults with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 48 (1), 309–318.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Stephen A. Petrill
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Petrill, S.A. (2016). Behavioural Genetic Studies of Reading and Mathematics Skills. In: Kovas, Y., Malykh, S., Gaysina, D. (eds) Behavioural Genetics for Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137437327_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137437327_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-68354-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43732-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)