ABSTRACT

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the cognitive skills of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific learning disorder (SLD) and typically developing (TD) children.

Materials and Methods

The study group consisted of 115 ADHD, 106 SLD and 106 TD children between the ages of 6-10. The data were collected using the cognitive assessment system (CAS). In addition, a demographic information form was used to determine the characteristics of the participants. The data of the study were analyzed using SPSS 25 software (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY). Analysis of variance and Tukey post-hoc test were used in the analysis. The effect size was measured by eta squared.

Results

As a result of the study, in the planning subtest, ADHD groups scored significantly lower than the SLD and TD groups and SLD groups scored significantly lower than the TD group; in the simultaneous operations and attention subtest, ADHD and SLD groups scored lower than the ND group; in the consecutiveity subtest, the SLD group scored lower than the ADHD and TD groups and the ADHD group scored lower than the TD group; and in the total intelligence scores, the ADHD and SLD groups scored lower than the TD group.

Conclusion

It was observed that CAS was able to distinguish ADHD and SLD from each other with the planning and succession tests, and both groups from TD children with the total score in all subtests.