LANGUAGE ABILITIES IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, READING DISABILITIES, AND NORMAL CONTROLS

Research has demonstrated a high prevalence of language impairments (L I) and reading disabilities (RD) in children with attention deficit hy peractivity disorder (ADHD). Since RD is also associated with LI, it i s unclear whether the language impairments are specific to ADHD or ass ociated with comorbid RD. The language abilities of ADHD children with and without RD were investigated in a task requiring recall of a leng thy narrative, and in tests assessing knowledge of the semantic aspect s of language. The study was conducted with 50 boys-14 ADHD, 14 ADHD RD, 8 RD, and 14 normal controls, aged 7 to 11. Children with ADHD (A DHD-only, ADHD + RD) exhibited difficulties in organizing and monitori ng their story retelling. Children with RD (RD-only, ADHD + RD) demons trated deficits in receptive and expressive semantic language abilitie s on the language processing tests. The comorbid group (ADHD + RD) exh ibited the deficits of both ADHD and RD children. The deficiencies of ADHD children are consistent with higher-order executive function defi cits while the deficits of RD children are consistent with deficits in the basic semantics of language processing.