# Understanding comorbidity between specific learning disabilities and developmental psychopathology

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2023 · $356,121

## Abstract

The overarching objective of CLDRC Project I is to use multiple converging methods to test
why specific learning disabilities (SLDs) co-occur so often with other SLDs and with other
disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety. Three samples
will be enrolled to accomplish the specific aims of Project I over the next five years. Project I and
II will work together to collect a total sample of 600 consecutive referrals through our
assessment clinics, including approximately 200 children from lower income families and
significant subgroups with severe SLDs and multiple comorbidities. In addition to the clinic
sample, Project I and Project II will also collaborate on a 5-year longitudinal follow-up study of
220 twins who participated in the CLDRC during the current funding period. Participants in both
of these studies will come to Project I laboratories to complete a comprehensive battery that
includes measures of basic and higher-order aspects of reading, math, and writing, nearly all
neuropsychological constructs that are included in the most prominent cognitive models of SLDs
and related psychopathology, and ratings of ADHD, SCT, anxiety, and other dimensions of
psychopathology and functional impairment. To complement these two studies of children with
SLDs, the third Project I sample will be a follow-up at age 30 of a sample that was first assessed
in preschool, facilitating analyses of the development of SLDs over 25 years. Results will
provide important new information regarding the structure of SLDs, the immediate and long-term
implications of comorbidity between different SLDs and other related disorders, and the shared
etiological influences and neuropsychological weaknesses that may lead to these comorbity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10758086
- **Project number:** 2P50HD027802-31
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** ERIK G WILLCUTT
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $356,121
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1996-12-01 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10758086

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10758086, Understanding comorbidity between specific learning disabilities and developmental psychopathology (2P50HD027802-31). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10758086. Licensed CC0.

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