Basic number processing deficits in ADHD: a broad examination of elementary and complex number processing skills in 9‐ to 12‐year‐old children with ADHD‐C

Abstract

ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and academic difficulties are frequently associated, but to date this link is poorly understood. In order to explore which components of number processing and calculation skills may be disturbed in children with ADHD we presented a series of respective tasks to 9- to 12-year-old children with ADHD-combined type and matched children without ADHD (of any type) without concomitant dyscalculia and/or dyslexia. Overall, group differences were not significant regarding overlearned and explicitly trained simple and complex calculation skills. More basic number processing skills are - for instance - the ability to compare one-digit numbers according to their magnitude (so-called magnitude comparison), to count or to transcode numbers, i.e. to write down an Arabic number '21' in verbal dictation. Significant differences favouring control children in basic number processing skills were obtained in a number comparison task and in a dot enumeration task. Importantly, our results cannot be explained by group differences regarding specific working memory and executive function components. Thus, number processing skills and in particular the processing of numerical magnitude should be investigated in children diagnosed with ADHD even when no comorbid learning disabilities are reported.

Diagnostics and Intervention in Developmental Dyscalculia: Current Issues and Novel Perspectives

“…However, within the present conceptualization, an impaired magnitude representation may be a sufficient cause for developmental dyscalculia, but not a necessary one. Nevertheless, there is ample empirical evidence that children diagnosed with developmental dyscalculia often exhibit an impairment of their number magnitude representation (Ashkenazi et al 2008;Holloway and Ansari 2009;Rousselle and Noël 2007;Kaufmann and Nuerk 2008;Moeller et al 2009b). …”

Avaliação do conhecimento sobre a discalculia entre educadores

“…For the latter there is some support in the literature: an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered a common comorbidity of dyscalculia or the cause of comparable symptoms (12,16,17,) . Other conditions that can cause similar symptoms, even disorders that are known to co-occur frequently with dyscalculia or with importance for differential diagnosis, such as dyslexia, were not often marked (17,18) . The professional that was most often indicated to be the person that should treat a pupil with dyscalculia was the speech language pathologist.…”

Math Competence and Executive Control Skills in Students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Mathematics Learning Disabilities // Competencias matemáticas y control ejecutivo en estudiantes con Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con...

“…Si tales dificultades se concretasen en el área de las Matemáti-cas (DAM), su grado de asociación con el TDAH variaría entre el 18% (Capano, Minden, Chen, Schachar, e Ickowicz, 2008) y el 31% (Zental, 2007). Dicha comorbilidad se manifiesta siguiendo a Kauffman y Nuerk (2008), en que los estudiantes con TDAH presentan un desarrollo significativamente inferior en las habilidades básicas de procesamiento numérico, tales como comparar números de un dígito en función de su magnitud, en contar o escribir números al dictado. El 30% de dichos estudiantes no llegaría a un nivel de competencia matemá-tica básica compatible con su nivel intelectual, ya que, mientras que el bajo rendimiento en este área parece decrecer con la edad en la población general, en el caso de los estudiantes con TDAH, la discrepancia entre competencia matemática y capacidad intelectual tiende a aumentar (Jordan, Hanich, y Kaplan, 2003).…”