Language skills in children with velocardiofacial syndrome (deletion 22q11.2).
OBJECTIVE
To further define the language profile of children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) and explore the influence of parental origin of the deletion on language.


METHODS
Children and adolescents with VCFS (n = 27) were group-matched for sex, age, and IQ with 27 children and adolescents with idiopathic developmental delay. Fifty-four typically developing control subjects were also included in the analyses investigating word association abilities.


RESULTS
Children with VCFS had significantly lower receptive than expressive language skills, a unique finding when compared with IQ-matched control subjects. However, no significant differences in word association were detected. Children with a deletion of paternal origin score significantly higher on receptive language when compared with children with a deletion of maternal origin.


CONCLUSIONS
The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-III results suggest that children with VCFS show more severe deficits in receptive than expressive language abilities. Language skills of children with VCFS could be influenced by parental origin of the deletion and thus related to neuroanatomic alterations at the deletion site.
Glaser
Bronwyn
B
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA.
Mumme
Donna L
DL
Blasey
Christine
C
Morris
Michael A
MA
Dahoun
Sophie P
SP
Antonarakis
Stylianos E
SE
Reiss
Allan L
AL
Eliez
Stephan
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002892:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22 / Q000235:genetics*; D019465:Craniofacial Abnormalities / Q000235:genetics*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech; D013577:Syndrome; D014936:Word Association Tests