Understanding the Role of Working Memory and Organizational Skills on Academic Functioning in ADHD

In this episode, Dr. Scott Sperling and student leader, Ms. Grace Goodwin, discuss the article The role of working memory and organizational skills in academic functioning for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with the paper's first author, doctoral candidate, Ms. Alissa Cole. Using bias-corrected, bootstrapped latent path analyses, this study explored the unique and shared contributions of working memory and organizational skills on academic achievement and performance in a sample of 309 children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Results highlight the extent to which working memory and organizational skills both separately and together impact academic achievement and academic performance, explaining as much as 100% of the variance, as well as eclipsing the diagnosis of ADHD itself in certain models. Overall, findings have strong real-world implications for interventions related to learning for children with ADHD.