Children with comorbid speech sound disorder and specific language impairment are at increased risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
This study focuses on the comorbidity between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and speech sound disorder (SSD). SSD is a developmental disorder characterized by speech production errors that impact intelligibility. Previous research addressing this comorbidity has typically used heterogeneous groups of speech-language disordered children. This study employed more precise speech-language diagnostic criteria and examined ADHD symptomatology in 108 SSD children between the ages of 4 and 7 years old with specific language impairment (SLI) (n = 23, 14 males, 9 females) and without SLI (n = 85, 49 males, 36 females). We also examined whether a subcategory of SSD, persistent (n = 39, 25 males, 14 females) versus normalized SSD (n = 67, 38 males, 29 females), was associated with ADHD and/or interacted with SLI to predict ADHD symptomatology. Results indicated that participants in the SSD + SLI group had higher rates of inattentive ADHD symptoms than those in the SSD-only and control groups. In addition, an unexpected interaction emerged such that children with SLI and normalized-SSD had significantly higher ADHD inattentive ratings than the other subgroups. A proposed explanation for this interaction is discussed.
McGrath
Lauren M
LM
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Frontier Hall 2155 S. Race St., Denver, CO 80209, USA. lmcgrath@du.edu
Hutaff-Lee
Christa
C
Scott
Ashley
A
Boada
Richard
R
Shriberg
Lawrence D
LD
Pennington
Bruce F
BF
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012660:Semantics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology