The impact of Inattention, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity Symptoms, and Executive Functions on Learning Behaviors of Children with ADHD

The current study has a number of limitations that need to be addressed. First, the small sample size may have limited the power of the analyses, hiding some possible effects that may have been evident with a larger sample and more complex statistical analyses. Moreover, most of the ADHD participants were male, so studies with female participants should be conducted. Second, EF have been defined broadly; in the future, a more specific approach using tasks related to single constructs, such as inhibition and working memory, should be used. Furthermore, this study used teacher ratings of EF, and future studies should be conducted using neuropsychological measures. Fourth, there may be a degree of overlap between ratings of EF, and ratings of ADHD symptoms and learning behaviors; therefore, the relationships with more direct assessments of these skills should be examined in future studies. Fifth, other factors that may influence learning behaviors can be behavioral problems, social relationships, or more contextual factors such as teaching styles. Future studies should include these factors in order to better understand learning behaviors in children with ADHD. Lastly, the relationships among ratings of EF, ADHD symptoms, and learning behaviors may change throughout development. Longitudinal studies are needed to address the importance of these relationships over time because approaches to learning develop as the grade level increases in ways that are consistent with school socialization effects (Chen et al., 2011)