Attention Deficit Disorder and Specific Reading Disability: Separate but Often Overlapping Disorders

Abstract

Within a large (N = 182) heterogeneous sample of clinic-referred children with DSM-III-diagnosed attention deficit disorder (ADD), three behavioral subgroups were identified via cluster analysis of teacher ratings: 40% of the children had ADD with hyperactivity (ADDH), 30% had ADD with hyperactivity and aggressivity (ADDHA), and 31% had ADD without hyperactivity or aggressivity. Proportionally more girls were in the ADD-only subgroup. Over half the sample (n = 94) were poor readers, with 82 meeting discrepancy criteria for specific reading disability (RD). Proportionately more boys than girls met the RD criteria (9.2:1.0), whereas the sex ratio of males to females for the whole sample was 5.1 to 1.0. Focusing just on white males, the three behavioral subgroups were significantly different on convergent validity measures, such as other teacher ratings, parent ratings, and interview-elicited ratings of externalizing behavior, but were not different on such divergent validity measures as IQ and achievement scores, self-ratings, and laboratory performance tasks. Boys in the ADD sample who did not meet criteria for RD had significantly higher IQs than those who did, but subgroups with and without RD still differed significantly on WRAT-R reading and spelling scores with IQ covaried out. Both groups with and without RD could be differentiated from a control group on laboratory measures of sustained attention and impulse control. Methylphenidate benefited all subgroups equally, whether RD or not, and whether given a low (0.3 mg/kg) or high (0.6 mg/kg) dose.

Developmental coordination disorder in children with attention‐deficit–hyperactivity disorder and physical therapy intervention

“…We detected a significantly higher occurrence of specific learning disabilities and phonological deficits among patients with combined ADHD/DCD. Learning difficulties, particularly reading disability 19,20 with or without writing and spelling difficulties, 3 often accompany both ADHD and DCD. Specific language impairment (SLI) also occurs frequently in patients with DCD, probably on the basis of a dyspraxic deficit.…”

Unfolding consumer impulsivity: An existential–phenomenological study of consumers with attention deficit disorder

“…Attention deficit disorder may mimic or coexist with other types of learning disorders, such as reading disabilities (Dykman & Ackerman, 1991), anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and other medical conditions (Rostain, 1988). In addition, ADDers may experience fine motor disorders, such as illegible handwriting as well as other learning disorders related to information processing (Melini, 1987).…”

“…May mimic or co-exist with other types of learning disorders, such as reading disabilities (Dykman & Ackerman, 1991) May mimic or co-exist with anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and other medical conditions (Rostain, 1988).…”

The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review

“…Critics of the temporal processing deficit hypothesis might suggest that it is not specifically "temporal" processing, but rather attention that is inefficient in individuals whose performance on the rapid sequential tasks was reviewed above. Attention-deficit disorder (ADD) does coexist with reading disability in a substantial proportion of cases (Dykman & Ackerman, 1991;Felton, Wood, Brown, Campbell, & Harter, 1987), although it has been shown that this is more often the case with dyseidetic or mixed/unspecific types than with dysphonetics (Felton & Wood, 1989).…”