title: Executive function and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: stimulant medication and better executive function performance in children. Aetiological relationship between language performance and autistic-like traits in childhood: a twin study. Short term effects of methylphenidate on the cognitive, learning and academic performance of children with attention deficit disorder in the laboratory and the classroom. Adult outcome of hyperactive boys. Educational achievement, occupational rank, and psychiatric status.
abstract: BACKGROUND Executive function deficits have been reported repeatedly in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ) .  Stimulant medication has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive performance on most executive function tasks , but neuropsychological tests of executive function in this population have yielded inconsistent results . Method ological limitations may explain these inconsistencies . This study aim ed to measure executive function in medicated and non-medicated children with ADHD by using a computerized battery , the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery ( CANTAB ) , which is sensitive to executive function deficits in older patients with frontostriatal neurological impairments . METHODS Executive function was assessed in 30 children with ADHD : 15 were stimulant medication naive and 15 were treated with stimulant medication .  These two groups were compared to 15 age , sex and IQ matched controls . RESULTS The unmedicated children with ADHD displayed specific cognitive impairments on executive function tasks of spatial short-term memory , spatial working memory , set-shifting ability and planning ability . Impairments were also seen on spatial recognition memory and delayed matching to sample , while pattern recognition memory remained intact . The medicated children with ADHD were not impaired on any of the above executive function tasks except for deficits in spatial recognition memory . CONCLUSIONS ADHD is associated with deficits in executive function .  Stimulant medication is associated with better executive function performance . Prospect i ve follow-up studies are required to examine these effects BACKGROUND Impairments in language and communication are core features of autism spectrum disorders ( ASDs ) . The basis for this association is poorly understood . How early language is related to each of the triad of impairments characteristic of ASDs is also in need of clarification . AIMS This is the first study that aims to determine the extent to which shared genetic and environmental factors underlie the association between  early language performance and autistic-like traits ( ALTs ) in middle childhood . METHODS & PROCEDURES Data came from a population -based twin sample ( n = 6087 pairs ) assessed prospect ively at 2 , 3 , 4 and 8 years .  ALTs  measured by the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test ( CAST )  at 8 years were investigated in relation to language assessed by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory ( CDI ) at 2 , 3 and 4 years . Multivariate model fitting techniques were used to analyse the origins of this association . OUTCOMES & RESULTS Total CAST scores , as well as Social and Communication subscales , at 8 years were weakly but significantly negatively correlated with language ability at 2 , 3 and 4 years . Correlations between language and restrictive and repetitive behaviours and interests ( RRBI ) were not significant . The phenotypic correlations between language and Social and Communication ALTs were almost entirely mediated by shared genetic influences . There were specific genetic influences on early language that were not shared with ALTs , and specific genetic influences on ALTs not shared with earlier language performance . CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to demonstrate shared genetic influences in relation to language performance as an early antecedent of later ALTs . These results support the idea that the triad of core features in ALTs are aetiologically heterogeneous , with early language relating to social and communication impairments but not RRBIs Sixteen children meeting diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ( ADD-H ) were tested on methylpheni date ( 0.3 mg/kg ) and placebo on cognitive , learning , academic and behavioral measures in a double-blind study . Assessment s were carried out in the laboratory and in the children 's regular classrooms . Results indicate methylpheni date -induced improvements on a majority of the measures . Drug-induced changes reflected increased output , accuracy and efficiency and improved learning acquisition . There was also evidence of increased effort and self-correcting behaviours . It is argued that review ers have underestimated the potential of stimulants to improve the performance of ADD-H children on academic , learning and cognitive tasks OBJECTIVE The paucity of data concerning the long-term natural history of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) , a common childhood psychiatric disorder , prompted a longitudinal study to investigate the adult sequelae of the childhood disorder . DESIGN Prospect i ve study , follow-up intervals ranging from 13 to 19 years ( mean , 16 years ) , with blind systematic clinical assessment s. SUBJECTS Ninety-one white males ( mean age , 26 years ) , representing 88 % of a cohort systematic ally diagnosed as hyperactive in childhood , and 95 ( 95 % ) of comparison cases of similar race , gender , age , whose teachers had voiced no complaints about their school behavior in childhood . RESULTS Prob and s had significantly higher rates than comparisons of ADHD symptoms ( 11 % vs 1 % ) , antisocial personality disorders ( 18 % vs 2 % ) , and drug abuse disorders ( 16 % vs 4 % ) . Significant comorbidity occurred between antisocial and drug disorders . Educational and occupational achievements were significantly compromised in the prob and s. These disadvantages were independent of psychiatric status . We did not find increased rates of affective or anxiety disorders in the prob and s. CONCLUSIONS Childhood ADHD predicts specific adult psychiatric disorders , namely antisocial and drug abuse disorders . In the adolescent outcome of this cohort , we found that these disturbances were dependent on the continuation of ADHD symptoms . In contrast , in adulthood , antisocial and drug disorders appeared , in part , independent of sustained ADHD . In addition , regardless of psychiatric status , ADHD placed children at relative risk for educational and vocational disadvantage . The results do not support a relationship between childhood ADHD and adult mood or anxiety disorders
target: Taken together , the studies pointed at substantial evidence for a negative association between ADHD symptoms and mathematical ability .
  This association was particularly marked for the inattentive component of ADHD than for the hyperactive-impulsive component .
  Evidence from twin studies also showed a significant genetic correlation between mathematics and ADHD , which was greater for the inattentive component of ADHD compared to the hyperactive-impulsive component .
  Conclusions The differential relationship of the hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention domains with mathematics emphasises the heterogeneity within the disorder and suggests a partially different aetiology of the two ADHD domains .
background: Background Several recent behavioural and behavioural genetic studies have investigated the relationship between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) and mathematical ability .
  The aim of this systematic review was to provide an overview of these studies to date .
  An emphasis was placed on review ing results that explored the association between mathematics and the two ADHD components of attention and hyperactivity-impulsivity separately .