Méndez-Freije, I.; Areces, D.; Rodríguez, C. Language Skills in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review. Children2024, 11, 14.
Méndez-Freije, I.; Areces, D.; Rodríguez, C. Language Skills in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review. Children 2024, 11, 14.
Méndez-Freije, I.; Areces, D.; Rodríguez, C. Language Skills in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review. Children2024, 11, 14.
Méndez-Freije, I.; Areces, D.; Rodríguez, C. Language Skills in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review. Children 2024, 11, 14.
Abstract
(1) Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are neurodevelopmental disorders that affect various areas of chil-dren’s development, such as language. There is an emerging idea that ADHD is characterised by the presence of language difficulties, which could be explained by the high comorbidity between ADHD and DLD. The purpose of this study is to analyse the empirical evidence of language com-petence in children aged 6–17 years old, diagnosed with ADHD and/or DLD. (2) Method: Fifteen studies with experimental designs were identified from Scopus, PsycINFO and WoS databases, reporting on language skills in children diagnosed with ADHD and/or DLD. Studies relating ex-ecutive functioning to language skills in this target population were also included. (3) Results: The literature is heterogeneous and different components of language are also examined. Even though the results are contradictory they convincingly demonstrate that there are overlapping symptoms between ADHD and DLD, such as language skills and executive functions. (4) Conclusions: the differences in the samples limit the generalisability of the results. Therefore, this review highlights the importance of considering language skills when designing individualised interventions for the population with ADHD and DLD, both in comorbidity and in isolation.
Keywords
ADHD; DLD; Idiopathic Language Impairment; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Comorbidity; Language Skills
Subject
Social Sciences, Psychology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
