Given recent advances in genetics, child psychiatry, and mental retardation research, etiology-based interventions are becoming increasingly possible for children with different genetic mental retardation conditions. This article reviews recent advances in the "new genetics" and shows how such advances affect special education. Focusing on Williams, fragile X, Prader-Willi, and Down syndromes, we note how etiology-related cognitive-linguistic profiles and propensities to distinct personalities and behavior problems point the way to specific, targeted strategies of intervention. Although currently only beginning in special education work, such intervention practices promise to become increasingly elaborated and effective in the decades to come.
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