Cognition and maths in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder with and without co-occurring movement difficulties.
Kids with ADHD plus movement issues show weaker visuospatial working memory yet keep up in math, so probe memory but expect grade-level math performance.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kanevski et al. (2023) compared 8- to young learners kids who have ADHD only with kids who have ADHD plus movement difficulties. They gave each child visuospatial working-memory tests and grade-level math sheets. The team then asked: does weaker working memory always mean lower math scores?
What they found
The ADHD-plus-movement group scored much lower on visuospatial working memory. Surprisingly, their math scores matched the ADHD-only group. Working-memory links to math were also different across the two groups.
How this fits with other research
Dionne et al. (2024) extends this picture. They studied kids who have only developmental coordination disorder and found medium math deficits. Together the papers show that movement problems plus ADHD do not drag math down, but movement problems alone do.
Iglesias-Sarmiento et al. (2017) is a predecessor that mapped executive-function weaknesses in ADHD. The new study adds the twist that visuospatial working memory, not general executive skills, is the sore spot when ADHD and DCD combine.
Chen et al. (2013) used a similar quasi-experimental design with DCD-only kids. They saw everyday memory gaps that vanished once verbal IQ was controlled, reminding us to check language skills before blaming memory.
Why it matters
If you work with kids who have both ADHD and movement trouble, do not assume poor math. Screen visuospatial working memory first. A low score here may still leave room for grade-level math through other routes. Tailor supports such as graph paper, visual organizers, or verbal mediation to bypass the weak visuospatial link.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Movement difficulties are common in ADHD, however, the implications of their co-occurrences on cognitive and maths performance is unknown. AIMS: This study set out to examine whether cognitive and maths performance of children with high ADHD symptoms differs depending on the co-occurrence of movement difficulties given evidence that weaker visuospatial processing, known to be important for maths performance, differentiates ADHD and DCD. We also aimed to examine whether relationships between cognition and maths in ADHD differs depending on co-occurring movement difficulties. METHODS: Participants were 43 drug naïve children between 6 and 12 years old (M = 101.53 months SD = 19.58). The ADHD-only group (n = 18) included children with high ADHD scores, and those in the ADHD+DCD group (n = 25) concurrently had high movement difficulty scores. All completed executive function and memory, including 2 visuo-spatial memory tasks from the CANTAB battery and Mathematics Problem Solving, Numeracy, and Maths Fluency tasks from the WIAT-III and specific factual, conceptual, and procedural maths component tasks. RESULTS: Children in the ADHD+DCD group scored significantly lower on visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity, than those in the ADHD-only group. Both groups were comparable on all other cognitive assessments of executive functions, memory, and processing speed. The groups did not differ in their maths attainment scores, nor on more specific maths skills. Comparison of the correlations between cognitive processes and maths revealed that the association between visuospatial WM updating and procedural skill efficiency was stronger for the ADHD-only group. Moreover, associations between visuospatial WM and maths problem solving attainment were stronger in the ADHD+DCD group. CONCLUSIONS: Despite similarities in maths performance, children with ADHD+DCD could be distinguished by lower visuospatial WM. Differential associations with some of the maths domain implicate recruitment of different cognitive processes for some aspects of maths. This distinction can be particularly useful for conceptualising cognitive characteristics of different clinical groups and understanding cognitive pathways of maths difficulties. Implications for interventions are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104471