• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Banter Speech & Language

Banter Speech & Language

Sydney speech pathologists helping adults and children speak for themselves.

  • Home
  • Our Speech Pathologists
  • Shop
    • Speech
    • Language
    • Stuttering
    • Reading
    • Decodable Readers
    • Writing
    • Primary School
    • High School
    • Online resources
    • Business Templates
    • NDIS Templates
    • NDIS Training
  • Cart
  • Banter Supervision
  • Contact Us
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Language / My child has ADHD. Should I get his/her language checked?

My child has ADHD. Should I get his/her language checked?

David Kinnane · 19 October 2019 ·

Yes.

And here’s why.

We’ve written before about the complex relationship between Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and language development, based, in part, on some terrific research published back in 2015. But there is growing, higher quality evidence that children with ADHD have a higher prevalence of language difficulties than their typically developing peers. 

A systematic “meta-analytic” review was published in 2017 by Dr Hannah Korrel and colleagues. The researchers painstakingly reviewed peer-reviewed, published research on children with ADHD that included standardised language testing measures. The research team concluded that:

  • children with ADHD had significantly poorer language functioning compared with other children, including overall, with expressive language, receptive language, and pragmatic language, also known as the social use of language; and
  • although the evidence is a bit mixed, in general, there was a pattern of larger deficits in children with ADHD as the processing/narrative requirements became more demanding (e.g. Luo & Timler, 2008).

Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that:

  • ADHD is associated with weaknesses in several language areas; and
  • difficulties with expressive, receptive and pragmatic language should perhaps be considered “core” elements of ADHD deficits.

Why are language problems so common in children with ADHD?

We don’t know!

  • Some researchers think that ADHD and language disorders – although different things – often co-occur, and have some common symptoms. Interestingly, some of the diagnostic criteria for different kinds of ADHD include things we often seen in children with developmental language disorders, e.g.:
    • “Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly (e.g., mind seems elsewhere, even in the absence of any obvious distraction).”
    • “Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (e.g., starts tasks but quickly loses focus and is easily sidetracked).”
    • “Often talks excessively.”
    • “Often blurts out an answer before a question has been completed (e.g., completes people’s sentences; cannot wait for turn in conversation).”
    • “Often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g., butts into conversations, games, or activities).”   
  • Some researchers think that ADHD symptoms – (e.g. poor concentration and attention, or working memory deficits) – may affect language performance on tests (e.g. Barkley, 2014), which is why we find the research identifying some tests we can use to help distinguish issues so useful, clinically.
  • Some researchers look at the fact that ADHD affects children with low socio-economic status and/or learning disorders disproportionately, and observe that both low socio-economic status and learning disorders are known to have a secondary impact on language skills (e.g. Neville et al., 2013).
  • There is some interesting research looking at developmental brain differences in children with ADHD and children without ADHD, which may be associated with language issues – though this research is still in its infancy (e.g. Kibby et al., 2009, Miller et al., 2006).

Why is this an issue?

Three main reasons:

  • Language problems are not currently included as a core diagnostic criteria of ADHD in current clinical classification systems like the DSM-5 (although, as noted above, language-related symptoms are certainly included).
  • Past research indicates that language deficits are not currently being appropriately identified or treated in many children with ADHD. One study showed that less than half of children diagnosed with ADHD and language problems had accessed speech pathology services, with only a quarter accessing language therapy at the time of the study (e.g. Sciberras et al., 2014).
  • Lots of studies that did not include standardised testing (and were therefore not included in the systematic study) suggest that many children with ADHD have marked language impairments that continue into adolescence and may even persist into adulthood – even if they don’t warrant the label of “language disorder” (e.g. Englehardt et al., 2012). So we might be underestimating the size of the problem.

Clinical bottom line

Children with ADHD should have their language assessed, including their receptive, expressive and social use of language. At the very least, children with ADHD should be screened by a speech-language pathologist so that potential language issues can be identified, then investigated and treated, as early as possible. 

Related articles:

  • “She doesn’t really have a language problem. She just wasn’t paying attention to your tests”. FAQ: ADHD and language disorders
  • Language disorders
  • Speaking for themselves: why I choose ambitious goals to help young children put words together
  • “Huh?!” The many benefits of using Blank’s Language Levels framework to help your kids to understand language for school

Principal source: Korrel H., Mueller, K.L., Silk, T., Anderson, V., and Sciberras, E. (2017). Research Review: Language problems in children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – a systematic meta-analytic review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 58;6, 640-654.

Special thanks to Associate Professor Natalie Munro from the University of Sydney for bringing this important research to our attention.

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Print Friendly, PDF & EmailPrint Friendly

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Related

Language ADHD, ADHD and language disorders

Primary Sidebar

Get in touch

115 Queen Street
North Strathfield NSW Australia
(02) 87573838
hello@banterspeech.com.au
Monday-Friday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
Saturday: 7.30am to 2.30pm
Closed Sundays and public holidays

Shop at our store

  • Compound Conjunction Sentence Builders: "Yet" (as a stronger alternative to "but") $4.99 including GST
  • Lidcombe Program Starter Series: Resources for Highly Structured Practice: Categories Animated Bingo $4.99 including GST
  • Blanks 3: What is it? Semantic feature analysis - describing objects by key attributes $4.99 including GST
  • Narrative Language Workout for Young Primary Schoolers: Mercury and the Woodman, a Fable by Aesop $5.99 including GST
  • Book: Dog Man by Dav Pilkey: Language Companion $10.00 including GST
  • Mentor meeting agenda Mentor Meeting Agenda $5.99 including GST
  • No Prep Conjunction Pack: 'Because' (Volume 1) $1.99 including GST
  • Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Workout Comparative and Superlative Adjectives Workout $4.99 including GST

Store categories

January Featured Resource

  • Setting Goals for this Year: an Oral Language Workout $10.00 including GST

Recent articles

  • My child’s speech is hard to understand. Which therapy approach is appropriate?
  • Free preview: How to Supervise Speech Pathologists Properly in Private Practice
  • Selective Mutism: key things to know
  • Help your child to make inferences when reading

Featured Articles

What do you think about when you think about speech pathology?

Ask Us Anything: 17 things our readers and followers really want to know about speech pathology (but were too shy to ask)!

Language therapy works. But can we make it better?

Stuttering: what do we mean by ‘recovery’?

Lifting the lid on speech therapy: How we assess and treat children with unclear speech – and why

Too many children can’t read. We know what to do. But how should we do it?

I want to help my late talker to speak, but I’m stuck at home. What can I do?

Free Resources

Big book of child speech pathology answers

Getting ready to read at big school

Is your kindy kid really reading

The Scatter-Slayer Adventures

Free decodable: Book 1 of The Scatter-Slayer Adventures. The first in our decodable digital ‘select-your-sequel’ series for reluctant readers, aged 7-12.

Get our free resource

Subscribe to receive our blog articles

Check out our therapy and provider resources Go to our shop

Banter Speech & Language

Copyright © 2021 · BANTER SPEECH & LANGUAGE PTY LIMITED ·

  • Articles
  • Shop
  • Cart
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.