Language deficits in ADHD preschoolers

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of preschool ADHD on linguistic and metalinguistic awareness and mental ability. Eight subscales of the Athina Test were administered to ADHD preschoolers and a control group. Results showed that ADHD preschoolers performed significantly lower than the control group in all tasks. The greatest difficulty for ADHD preschoolers was evident in the "phoneme synthesis" subscale, particularly with metalinguistic awareness. These results support previously reported findings that ADHD preschoolers have serious language deficits, which place them at risk for developing poor reading skills in primary school. © 2008 Learning Difficulties Australia.