On the differential diagnosis of reading, attentional and depressive disorders

Abstract

Children may present with reading and/or attentional and/or affective (depressive) disorders in childhood. Although reading problems are more readily identifiable, childhood attentional and affective disorders can be difficult to recognize and diagnose. Here are discussed a number of complex and potentially confusing ways in which reading, attentional and affective disorders may be related: a primary problem in one area may result in problems in another; one disorder may look like another; and/or a child may simultaneously present two or all three primary disorders. Current clinical practice and recent and ongoing research is presented to clarify the changing definitions and potential relationships of these three childhood disorders to aid the process of differential diagnosis.

Learning to learn: Learning therapy in a college classroom

“…The claim that a diagnosis of learning disability is likely to be manifest in both academic delays and severe emotional maladjustments is supported by research literature and clinical practice (Hayes and Sloat 1988;Rourke, Young, and Leenaars 1989;Huntington and Bender 1993;Cohen 1994;Javorsky 1995). Miller (1996) hypothesizes that "children and adults with learning disabilities typically lack specific cognitive prerequisites that other people have, and therefore are especially vulnerable to the effects of failure."…”

Understanding the causal mechanisms of visual processing problems: A possible biochemical basis for Irlen syndrome?

“…A later study (Comings, Gade-Andavolu, Gonzalez, Wu, Muhleman, Chen, et al, 1998) identified 20 such genes, each contributing a small but additive effect in unique combinations for various disorders. The possibility of overlapping categories of diagnosis for a variety of disabilities has also been put forward by Cohen (1994), Stordy (1998) and Anderson (1997), with Parry (1996) hypothesising a multistimuli disorganisation syndrome as outlined in Figure 1 p.26. He claims that such a concept allows for the overlap of symptoms seen clinically, makes better descriptive sense to clinicians and parents, and ensures better prescription for therapy and intervention.…”

“…The diagnostic category of ADHD is also hypothesised to include a variety of sub-types (Hazell, 1995;Prior, Sanson, Smart, & Oberklaid, 1995;Edwards & Barkley, 1997). It has further been suggested that there is a substantial overlap in the diagnostic categories of dyslexia and ADHD (Cohen, 1994;Parry, 1996;Reynolds, Elsknin, & Brown, 1996), with the implication that they may have a common neurological or genetic influence (Hay &. Levy, 1996;Silver, 1990).…”

The Roles of Various Forms of Attention in Temporal Processing Deficits in Chinese Children With and Without Dyslexia

“…Considering the high comorbidity of dyslexia and ADHD (Wang & Chung, 2018), most previous studies of children with dyslexia excluded those with ADHD during recruitment to avoid the influence of poor attention. Undeniably, however, children with dyslexia have been demonstrated to have mild attention problems even though they do not meet the diagnostic criteria of ADHD (Cohen, 1994). Thus, we were not surprised to find that the recruited participants with dyslexia in our study showed significantly poor performance on two of the three forms of attention, namely, selective attention and attentional switching.…”