Assessing the Language of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves, according to theory, an underlying impairment of executive function - the cognitively based control system that regulates behavior. It is possible that this executive dysfunction interferes with performance on certain tasks used to identify language impairment (LI). We compared the performance of 3 groups of children aged 7 to 11 years: ADHD-only (n = 25), ADHD+LI (n = 28), and non-ADHD controls (n = 24), on 18 tasks within 3 language measures (Test of Word Finding, Rosner's Auditory Analysis Test, Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals- Revised). Children with ADHD-only performed like those without the disorder on most tasks examined. However, the CELF-R Formulated Sentences subtest was particularly difficult for children with ADHD-only. In-depth error analysis indicated that aspects of the executive dysfunction in ADHD such as impulsivity and pragmatic deficits may have influenced performance on this subtest. Clinical implications for testing children with ADHD are discussed.