Discriminative ability of CHC factor scores from the WJ III tests of cognitive abilities in children with ADHD

Abstract

Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) make up approximately 5% of the school-aged population and they often experience significant difficulties in school, particularly in the areas of academics, disruptive behavior, and social relationships. A diagnosis of ADHD does not provide guidance for creating interventions to address the impairments. Effective diagnostic assessments should go beyond traditional symptom-based categorization and allow for more accurate and precise problem identification. The current study compared the cognitive abilities of children with ADHD to typically developing children using the CHC factors from the WJ III COG. Results confirmed that the children with ADHD in this study had significant weaknesses in long-term storage and retrieval (Glr) and processing speed (Gs) as compared to children with no disabilities. Research-driven, empirically-validated academic interventions should be implemented in the educational setting to address these cognitive weaknesses in students with ADHD.