Mental illness in childhood and heredity

Although “familial patterns” are included in most discussions of the etiological factors to be considered in language disability, little research has been reported along these lines in recent years. Dr. Bender, however, has given considerable attention to the genetic factors in mental illness and maturational disturbances in children and she included a section relating to learning difficulties in children in a paper presented on the occasion of the dedication of the Children’s Psychiatric Hospital and Training School, Pownal, Maine, from which the following excerpts are taken, together with her bibliography of references.