The role of multidimensional attentional abilities in academic skills of children with ADHD.
Despite reports of academic difficulties in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), little is known about the relationship between performance on tests of academic achievement and measures of attention. The current study assessed intellectual ability, parent-reported inattention, academic achievement, and attention in 45 children (ages 7-15) diagnosed with ADHD. Hierarchical regressions were performed with selective, sustained, and attentional control/switching domains of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children as predictor variables and with performance on the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition as dependent variables. It was hypothesized that sustained attention and attentional control/switching would predict performance on achievement tests. Results demonstrate that attentional control/ switching accounted for a significant amount of variance in all academic areas (reading, math, and spelling), even after accounting for verbal IQ and parent-reported inattention. Sustained attention predicted variance only in math, whereas selective attention did not account for variance in any achievement domain. Therefore, attentional control/switching, which involves components of executive functions, plays an important role in academic performance.
Preston
Andrew S
AS
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University.
Heaton
Shelley C
SC
McCann
Sarah J
SJ
Watson
William D
WD
Selke
Gregg
G
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001076:Aptitude; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011932:Reading; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014888:Wechsler Scales