Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The overlap between Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities is consistently reported in the literature. The relationship between attention and cognitive and behavioral functioning makes it difficult to disentangle behavioral from cognitive symptoms in children with learning disabilities. Historically, research on ADHD in children with learning disabilities has been wrought with methodological inconsistencies and is further confounded by the comorbidity of learning disabilities and ADHD. This article reviews the research specific to the relationship between learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, both historical and current. Implications for future research relative to the increased specificity of the association between these disorders is discussed, with a focus on the need to decrease the heterogeneity of the populations studied by using subtypes of both learning disabilities and ADHD.