Question

Reagan is a young girl with a genetic developmental disorder. Her language development has been severely affected by this condition, and as such she has been diagnosed with a specific language impairment. Which condition is NOT likely to have contributed to this delay?

•autism spectrum disorder
•Down syndrome
•fragile-X syndrome
•PKU

Answer 1

PKU

Step-by-step explanation:

PKU is the acronym for the condition called phenylketonuria, which is a disease related to a rare genetic disorder that affects approximately 1 in 10,000 people and involves protein metabolism. To be born with phenylketonuria, a baby must have inherited the phenylketonuria gene from both parents. Often parents do not know that they carry the gene.

When we eat protein-containing foods, digestive enzymes break down these substances into amino acids, which are needed to make new proteins for our body through other enzymes. A person with phenylketonuria has altered function of a specific enzyme to process the amino acid phenylalanine. Thus, any food containing phenylalanine cannot be properly metabolized and it accumulates in the body causing problems in the brain and other organs.

Phenylketonuria is not related to Reagan's language disorder.