Genetics advances and learning disability.

Abstract

Medicine is rapidly becoming molecular medicine, and little escapes the grasp of modern genetics. Most disorders associated with learning disability have at least a genetic component influencing their expression; in many disorders, disturbances of genetic mechanisms play a pivotal role. Dynamic mutations, imprinting mechanisms and gene-dosage effects are explained with reference to genetic disorders that lead to learning disability. A review of recent important studies in the genetics of learning disability. A host of new genetic connections to conditions associated with learning disability have been made. A basic understanding of these genetic connections is important for all learning disability psychiatrists if they are to follow the rapid changes--already beginning to influence our practice--that hold immense promise for the future.