Different verbal behavior in children with attention deficit between 7 and 12 years of age
Background: According to factor brain organization of cognition model, it has been proposed that there are specific a shared underlie factors in the structure of each cognitive functions.
Objective: To determine if children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) have different verbal abilities than controls, and if verbal behaviors are related to inattention and hyperactive symptoms.
Methods: 32 children with attention deficit without hyperactivity (ADD/-H), 28 children with attention deficit hyperactivity (ADD/+H), according to DSM-IV criteria and higher than 60-T-Score on an ADHD checklist, and 32 control children were selected. Age, sex, school achievement, and socioeconomic status were controlled. All children had a WISC-R performance intelligence quotient (PIQ) > 80 and were 7-to-12-year old. Verbal test to assess comprehension, inferences, narrative, fluency, analogies and rapid naming were applied.
Results: Children from both ADD groups obtained significant lower WISC-R verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), PIQ, full scale IQ (FSIQ), and phonologic fluency score than controls (ANOVA-Bonferroni's correction p < 0.005). ADD/+H children performed significant lower than controls in narrative and analogies (p < 0.005). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), using FSIQ as covariable, showed that phonologic verbal fluency continued presenting significant differences between control and ADD children. Inattention-hyperactivity checklist scores had significant inverse and mild correlations with inferences, items recalled in a narrative, phonologic verbal fluency, and analogies (r > -0.20, p < 0.05). There were significant and small correlations between inattention score and rapid naming errors, and between Inattention and rapid naming time (r > 0.20, p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Our data found different verbal production, fluency and speed in ADD/+H and ADD/-H children. There were shared underlie relations between verbal abilities and behavioral symptoms.