Some children with ADHD may be considered to have learning disabilities (LD). There are many misconceptions about LDs. One myth is that the child is just refusing to do his or her work in school. Actually an LD is defined as a significant discrepancy betweens one's intelligence or general mental abilities and academic achievement in some area, such as reading, math, spelling, handwriting, or language. The prevalence rates can vary greatly depending on how significant the difference between the IQ and achievement is defined.

Several types of measures and formulas are used to define an LD. One of the most common uses standard deviation formulas derived from test scores on math and reading. A standard deviation is arrived at in this way. A large group of students will take the test, and the scores are charted on a bellshaped curve. The average score of the students will be placed in the center of the curve. Statisticians have found that a certain percent of students will fall above and below the average. For example, if 34.13 percent fall above and below the average on that specific test, that range is called plus or minus one standard deviation and would contain 68.26 percent of all scores. A standard deviation of plus or minus two will represent the next 13.59 percent on either side of the scale, and those that fall within the range of plus or minus three in the standard deviation would be a small number at either end of 2.27 percent. IQ tests are based on the normal curve and are easy to diagram because the average score is 100. A person who scores 130 would be in the above normal range. All tests can be put on the normal curve. Standard deviation is a statistical calculation that takes all the scores and then calculates the average or mean. That score is put in the center of the curve. Then the difference between the score of each person who took the test and the mean is calculated. That deviation is squared and added up, and that sum is then divided by the number of raw scores of students who took the test. This is called a norm-referenced test and is based on many students who take the test at a given time. Over the years of giving the test, the numbers are adjusted and calculated to give the relationship of an individual's performance on the test. The term standard deviation may be used to describe to a parent the performance of the child on a given test.

The discrepancy formula compares scores on the IQ test with the reading and math norm-referenced achievement tests. A problem with the discrepancy formula is the tendency to overestimate the number of students with an LD. For example, a student is performing in an average manner in school but is intellectually above average or gifted according to the IQ score. If the number of a 10 percent discrepancy is used, one study found that 38 percent of children with ADHD had a reading disability and 55 percent had a math disability. Using a discrepancy of 20, Frick et al. (1991) estimated that 16 percent of students with ADHD had a reading disability and 21 percent had a math disability.

A second approach is to define an LD as having a score falling below 1.5 SDs from the mean on an achievement test, regardless of IQ. This removes the idea of discrepancy. Using this approach, Barkley (1990) found the following prevalence of LD in children with ADHD: 21 percent in reading, 26 percent in spelling, and 28 percent in math; for children without ADHD, they found 0, 2.9, and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Approximately 20 to 30 percent of children with ADHD also have a specific learning disability. In preschool years, these disabilities include difficulty in understanding certain sounds or words and/or difficulty in expressing oneself in words. In school age children, reading or spelling disabilities, writing disorders, and arithmetic disorders may occur. A type of reading disorder, dyslexia, affects up to 8 percent of elementary age children.

Children with both ADHD and LDs are the ones most in need of special education services. The term LD relates to a broad category of developmental disorders that include difficulties in reading, mathematics, and writing. Diagnosis is based on behavioral information and assumes normal intelligence, intact sensory systems, and absence of a handicap that might cause a person to have difficulty learning. Although interventions may be effective, the difficulties in learning may persist throughout the lifespan. The most widely researched category of LD is the reading disability (RD) dyslexia. For most children with RD, the difficulty is in phonological processing or processing the sounds of words, orthographic response or recognizing letters, and speed or fluency. The deficits are presumed related to neurobiological abnormalities.

RD tends to run in families and research shows that about 50 percent of the variance in reading problems can be explained by genetic influences, possibly traced to chromosomes 6 and 15. More boys than girls have the condition, but some studies suggest that the number of boys and girls is equal and that the bias is in the selection process.

An LD occurs often with ADHD. The exact correlation is difficult to determine because of the difference in assessment criteria. Between 8 and 39 percent of children with ADHD meet the criteria for RD, 12-27 percent have a spelling difficulty, and 12-30 percent have a writing disability.

Bibliography:

1) Barkley, Russell. 2006. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.

2) Frick, P. J. et al. 1991. Academic underachievement and the disruptive behavior disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 59:289-94.

3) Gozal, David, and Dennis L. Molfese, eds. 2005. Attention deficit hyperactive disorder: From genes to patients. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press.

4) Popham, W. James. Modern Educational Measurement. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

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