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Telephone Testing and Teacher Assessment of Reading Skills in 7-year-olds: II. Strong Genetic Overlap

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Abstract

In a companion paper, word recognition skills assessed by telephone using the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) were found to correlate highly with National Curriculum (NC) teacher-assessed reading ability in 7-year-old twins. This study examined the genetic and environmental origins of this high correlation. TOWRE and NC scores were both highly heritable and the correlation between them was largely due to overlapping genetic effects. These findings were obtained both across the normal range of reading abilities and at the low extreme, defined by scores below a 13.4% cut-off on either measure. TOWRE and NC scores may provide promising phenotypes for further study of the aetiology of early reading abilities and disabilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, Box Number P083, SE5 8AF, Denmark Hill, London, UK

    Nicole Harlaar & Robert Plomin

  2. Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA

    Philip S. Dale

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  1. Nicole Harlaar
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  2. Philip S. Dale
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  3. Robert Plomin
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Harlaar, N., Dale, P.S. & Plomin, R. Telephone Testing and Teacher Assessment of Reading Skills in 7-year-olds: II. Strong Genetic Overlap. Read Writ 18, 401–423 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-005-0271-1

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