Narrative writing competence and internal state terms of young adults clinically diagnosed with childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The effect of picture support on narrative retells in Swedish adolescents with ADHD

ADHD is characterized by executive functioning (EF) deficits, which in turn may affect language, and therefore EF demands in language assessment tasks are important to consider. This study aims to inform clinical practice by 1) comparing and describing narrative retells in Swedish adolescents with and without ADHD, and 2) investigating the effects of picture support on narration in the two groups. Fifteen adolescents with ADHD and 31 with typical development (TD) participated. Two carefully matched narratives for retelling, one with and one without picture support were administered, transcribed, and analyzed regarding content and linguistic complexity (macro- and microlevel measures). The results showed that the ADHD group included less content than the TD group in both tasks, measured in fewer story grammar units and details. Both groups included more story grammar units in the task without picture support. The TD group had shorter retells with higher syntactic complexity in the task with picture support compared to the task without picture support. Compared to TD peers, retells without picture support from the ADHD group were significantly shorter and had a higher proportion of grammatical errors. These results show different strengths and weaknesses in the two groups and indicate that the narrative task without picture support, which places higher demands on EF, captured a linguistic vulnerability in the ADHD group. In conclusion, the choice of narrative task is important to consider in clinical practice to enable accurate descriptions of linguistic strengths and weaknesses in individuals with ADHD, and aid in differential diagnosis.

Cognitive characterization of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by domains: a systematic review

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is reportedly the most frequent neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed during childhood, and it is recognized as a common condition in adulthood. We review the evidence to help identify cognitive domains associated to deficits in adult ADHD. A systematic review with narrative synthesis was performed, assessing studies on adult ADHD, neuropsychology and research on involved cognitive domains in adults 18+ years old with an established diagnosis of ADHD, in seven electronic databases (PubMed, PsychInfo, WebOfScience, Embase, Scopus, OvidSPMedline, and Teseo), and Worldcat and OpenGrey grey literature databases. 93 studies were included for this review, encompassing findings from a total 5574 adults diagnosed only with ADHD, medication-naïve or non-medicated at the moment of the assessment and 4880 healthy controls. Adults diagnosed with ADHD may show, when compared to healthy controls, a cognitive profile characterized by deficits across all attention modalities, processing speed, executive function (mainly working memory and inhibition with emphasis on reward delay and interference control), verbal memory, reading skills, social cognition and arithmetic abilities. A cognitive characterization of adult ADHD by domains is established beyond the sole consideration of attention and executive function problems. Along with these, verbal memory, language (mainly reading), social cognition and arithmetic abilities may also contribute to a more comprehensive characterization of the cognitive profile in adult ADHD.

Metacognitive interventions in text production and working memory in students with ADHD

This study compared the effects of two metacognitive interventions on writing, working memory (WM), and behavioral symptoms of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The disorder was clinically diagnosed by a multidisciplinary team according to DSM-IV criteria. The first approach consisted of a combined intervention in text production and WM while the second focused only on WM. Participants were 47 students from the fifth to ninth grades of two public elementary schools in Porto Alegre (Brazil), randomized to one of the two interventions groups. Writing and WM were assessed before, immediately after, and 3 months after the interventions. The results suggest that both interventions contributed to improving behavior and school performance, whereas only the combined intervention increased the overall quality of narrative text, organization of paragraphs, and denouement.