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Language impairments occur in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)families at a higher rate than the general population and reciprocally,ASDoccurs more often in families with language impairments,prompting thesuggestion of shared etiology.We present the first study where bothdisorders required to be present in each family to provide a more direct test ofthe hypothesis of shared genetic etiology.Through a combination ofbehavioral genetic heritability analysis and molecular genetic linkage analysis,we show that the relationship between language impairments and ASD are notadditive effects of independent genes,but unique non-additive effects of thesame genes involved in both disorders.I will present a model that explainsour observations in terms of common language impairment risk factors havinga dramatically larger effect in ASD than the general population.Thesefindings also suggest novel paradigms for understanding the biological liabilityfor neurodevelopmental disorders as stemming from brain mechanisms farremoved from symptom-based criteria used in diagnosis.