Investigators

Sally Wadsworth

My research interests center around the use of behavioral genetic methods to study individual differences in cognitive abilities and disabilities, and their relations with academic achievement and behavioral problems. Collaborations with other Center investigators have focused on assessment of the genetic and environmental bases of Reading Disability, ADHD and their comorbidity. In an exciting extension of this work, we are conducting a longitudinal follow-up of CLDRC participants in the Longitudinal Twin Study of Reading Disability (LTSRD; http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/rdf/) funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD; DC 05190). In this project we are investigating the causes of stability and change in reading disability and its dimensions/subtypes, as well as long-term comorbidity and covariation of reading disability with other abilities, ADHD and other psychopathology, as well as factors which may influence positive or negative outcomes.

Other related research includes collaboration with other co-investigators of the International Longitudinal Twin Study of Early Reading Development (R.K. Olson, PI; HD-038526; http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/rds/ ), a longitudinal study of twins from Colorado, Australia and Scandinavia, beginning at preschool age 4, and continuing through grade 4. This unique cross-cultural, genetically-informative data set will enable us to address a broad range of questions regarding the precursors of individual differences in early reading development, as well as the etiologies of reading development from preschool through the early grades.

Finally, using data from the largest sample of siblings with RD ascertained to date the Etiology of Reading Disabilities and Comorbid ADHD project (Erik Willcutt, P.I.; HD-047264;) is conducting a genome-wide screen for quantitative trait loci that increase risk for reading disability and ADHD.

The long-term goal of the combined work of these projects is to identify genetic and environmental risk and protective factors that predispose children to reading difficulties and academic success versus failure, thereby informing instruction and remediation methodologies.

My interest in reading ability and it's interrelations with cognitive abilities and academic achievement over time is reflected further in my work with the Colorado Adoption Project (HD 010333; S. J. Wadsworth, PI; http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/cap/ ), now in it's 30th year. These relations, in turn, may have implications for later educational and occupational attainment, two foci of Nature, Nurture and Social Demography (HD- HD 036773; M. C. Stallings, PI;) which investigates familial influences on educational attainment, as well as other important features of the transition to adulthood.

Representative Publications:

For a complete list of recent publications, click here.

Wadsworth, S.J. & DeFries, J.C. (2005). Genetic etiology of reading difficulties in boys and girls. Twin Research, 8, 594-601.
pubmed abstract

Wadsworth, S.J., Corley, R., Plomin, R., Hewitt, J.K., & DeFries, J.C. (2006). Genetic and environment influences on the continuity and change in reading achievement in the Colorado Adoption Project. In A.C. Huston & M.N. Ripke (Eds.), Developmental Contexts in Middle Childhood. (pp. 87-106). NY, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Wadsworth, S.J., DeFries, J.C., Olson, R.K., & Willcutt, E.G. (2007). Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study of Reading Disability, Annals of Dyslexia, 57, 139-160.
pubmed abstract

Willcutt, E. G., Betjemann, R. S., Pennington, B. F., Olson, R. K., DeFries, J. C., & Wadsworth, S. J. (2007). Longitudinal study of reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Implications for education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 4, 181-192.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Wadsworth

Ph.D. 1994
University of Colorado

447 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0345
phone: 303-492-6795
fax: 303-492-8063
email:
Sally.Wadsworth@
Colorado.EDU