Researchers study mutations in developmental disorders using many different techniques, many of which involve animal models. In animal models, researchers may be able to perform the following:

-Site-directed mutagenesis: Researchers mutate a specific gene using this technique.

-Knockout organism: When site-directed mutagenesis has been performed to completely remove a gene, the organism is called a knock-out organism. We cannot always assume that a lack of behavioral changes to a knockout organism means that the gene that has been knocked out is not important to that behavior!

-Transgenic organism: An organism whose genetic material has been altered by the addition of a gene that is new or somehow modified. This is particularly useful for studying genetic disorders.

Some of these methods can be applied later in an animal's lifespan to deduce the effect of mutations in an adult organism.