Cognition and learning in ADHD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identification of cognitive predictors of mathematics and reading skills in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
IRAS ID
224173
Contact name
Sinead Rhodes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show extensive difficulties with thinking such as attention and memory across home and school situations. These difficulties have been linked with problems in learning mathematics and reading. Research has suggested that children with ADHD differ from one another in their thinking processes though, with just under a third showing difficulties with memory (30%), a quarter showing impairments in tasks that measure attention (22%), and 25-50% showing no impairments at all in thinking processes. Similarly, maths and reading abilities are not simple processes, with research showing that there are several related, but still separate aspects to learning these subjects. Within mathematics learning these include (1) knowledge of maths facts, (2) abstract thinking, and (3) ways in which we use numbers. Within reading these include (1) word reading and (2) reading comprehension (understanding the text). Being successful at each of these parts of learning maths and reading relies on different types of memory and attention. We currently lack a detailed knowledge of the links between thinking processes and these aspects of educational learning in children with ADHD who will differ from one another.
The first phase of the project will assess the performance of 120 children aged 6-12 years with ADHD and 120 typically developing children on tasks measuring maths and reading ability. We will assess how this links with their performance on 'game-like' memory and attention tasks they do on an iPad.
The second phase of the project aims to investigate whether children with ADHD who show a similar set of memory and attention difficulties and associated maths or reading difficulties can be put into sub-groups on this basis. This analysis will inform us whether tailored interventions optimally suited to the needs of a child with ADHD could be examined in future research.REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0642
Date of REC Opinion
20 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion