Towards a genetic screening test for dyslexia

Our aim is develop a genetic screening test for dyslexia, a severe disorder of reading and writing, affecting ca. 4-5% of all schoolchildren. The genetic influence is estimated to be 50-70%. Currently, the diagnosis takes place at the end of 2nd grade, when years of language development have already passed. Since our test would be based on DNA analyses, it would provide an early identification of subjects at risk, resulting in early intervention by specific support and training for affected children.
Besides the actual development of such a screening test, another important issue is the acceptance of this test by the people, i.e. the future customers. For this purpose we developed a questionnaire including questions about general acceptance, individual willingness to test the own child, readiness to pay for the test, and need for additional information on early support provided with the test results. To ensure the inclusion of people with and without personal experiences with dyslexia in our survey, we asked parents with dyslexic children and persons not involved with dyslexia (n=263). We found a very positive general attitude to our test. 92% percent of all participants supported the introduction of a genetic screening test for dyslexia. 90% would want their own child to be tested.
Two thirds were willing to pay for the test and 96% percent wished to receive additional information on early support together with the test results.
Given the preliminary results of our still ongoing survey, we are very confident that our genetic screening test for dyslexia would be accepted by the people once it is finished and approved.