ADHD and Speech Excerpts

Comorbidity in ADHD and Associated Outcomes
by Dennis P. Cantwell, M.D.

“…Communication disorders describe developmental speech and/or language disorders. These children have elevated rates of ADHD. It is also clear that children referred for psychiatric problems and given a diagnosis of ADHD have undiagnosed speech and language disorders in a number of cases, as high as 40% and 50% in some samples. The nature of this relationship is not well understood. It may be that the speech and language disorders lead to attentional problems in some particular way or that they are both due to some common underlying factor, such as some type of central nervous system (CNS)
dysfunction.

The long-term outcome of children with speech and language disorders is fairly good for the disorders themselves. However, these children are highly likely to develop learning disorders as a residual outcome of their speech and language disorders. Thus, the presence of
communication disorders is likely to lead in ADHD children, as it does in non-ADHD children, to the development of academic performance problems due to specific learning disabilities in the language- related areas. This probability must be taken into account in the
design of treatment plans to alter long-term negative outcome…”

Impulsivity, Inattention and Language
Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.

“Toddlers and preschoolers at risk to receive a diagnosis of ADHD are often impulsive and inattentive. These children also demonstrate a higher incidence of problems with language development. In some studies as many as 50% to 70% of young children with hyperactive and impulsive behavior were experiencing problems in understanding and expressing ideas through language. These children also demonstrated a high rate of learning disability when they entered school. It is unclear whether their temperament contributes to delayed language or delayed language contributes to their difficulty temperamentally.

Before they learn to speak and begin to attach verbal labels to things, infants must touch, feel and taste as a means of gaining information about the world. Once they learn to use language effectively, words replace touch. Impulsive toddlers, however, often have difficulty making this transition. Typically they continue to need to touch and feel things, possibly as a means of gaining sensory input from the world. This problem may lead to difficulty
understanding personal space in older children with ADHD.

In long-term studies, Dr. Walter Mischel and colleagues found a most interesting relationship between a young child’s ability to use language skills while waiting for rewards and later success as a teenager or young adult….

ADHD: Speech and Language
American Speech Hearing Association

“Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity have their effects on speech and language…some children with ADHD also have learning disabilities that affect their speech and language. Evaluation of each child’s individual speech and language pattern is critical to developing an appropriate treatment plan…”

ADHD And Communication Skills
Eileen Bailey Director of ADDHelpline

“There are a number of ADD symptoms that can become barriers to effective communication (see a list here) …The ADD brain, always active, yet lacking in certain chemicals can not always retrieve the accurate data it needs. The right descriptive word may be filed somewhere in their brain, but not readily accessible. We have all “known” something that we can’t remember and say that it is “on the tip of our tongue.” Somewhere in our brain we have the knowledge, but at the moment we do not have the ability to locate it.

So it is with an ADD brain. With thoughts constantly moving quickly around and distractions taking attention away, it can be hard to locate the piece of information within the vast storage of the brain. Therefore, the correct words or phrases do not come. The ADD person becomes frustrated because the know what they want to convey, they can feel what they want to convey, and sometimes they think they have conveyed that very thought. But somewhere, it has been misconstrued, or not understood. Those that do not understand ADD may feel lost in the conversation, get annoyed or just look at you with amusement or non-comprehension.

Whatever happens, the communication can break down and cause frustration on both ends…”