Executive Functions in Learning Disabilities and ADHD

研究项目三总结 基于项目III过去对阅读障碍（RD）和ADHD共病的广泛研究，拟议的研究将扩展这些方法和概念，以了解研究较少的复杂LD之间的共病，以及它们与ADHD和RD的共病。项目III将使用多种分析方法来研究包括执行功能（EF）在内的认知技能成分如何促成这些合并症。先前的研究已经表明，ADHD与这些研究较少的LD中的每一种共病，包括阅读理解力差，书面语言差和数学问题解决能力差，并且相当多的先前研究表明EF在这些疾病中的作用。要掌握这些学术技能，不仅需要掌握必要的基本技能，还需要掌握更高层次的思维技能，如口语理解和EF。项目III将与项目II和项目V合作，明确测试这三种复杂LD的交互模型版本。因此，项目III的目标是全面了解这三种复杂LD之间的合并症及其与ADHD和RD的合并症。与项目I合作，项目III还将继续进行关于阅读障碍（RD）和ADHD之间的共病性的工作。项目III将在认知和病因学分析水平上测试这些合并症。它还将测试GxE相互作用是否是这些疾病及其合并症的病因学的一部分。尽管有相当多的证据表明，这些疾病之间存在共同的认知和遗传风险因素，但它们之间的关系以前从未在同一样本中进行过研究。

Research Project III Summary Building on extensive past research by Project III on the comorbidity of reading disability (RD) and ADHD, the proposed research will extend those methods and concepts to understanding the comorbidities among less-studied complex LDs, and their comorbidities with ADHD and with RD. Project III will use multiple methods of analysis to examine how component cognitive skills, including executive functions (EFs), contribute to these comorbidities. Previous research has demonstrated that ADHD is comorbid with each of these less-studied LDs, including poor reading comprehension, poor written language, and poor math problem solving ability, and considerable prior research indicates a role for EFs in these disorders. Proficiency in these academic skills requires not only mastery of prerequisite basic skills, but also higher level-thinking skills, such as oral language comprehension and EFs. Project III will explicitly test versions of this interactive model of these three complex LDs in collaboration with Projects II and V. So the goal of Project III is to gain a comprehensive understanding ofthe comorbidities among these three complex LDs and their comorbidities with both ADHD and RD. In collaboration with Project I, Project III will also continue ongoing work on the comorbidity between dyslexia (RD) and ADHD. Project III will test these comorbidities at both the cognitive and etiological levels of analysis. It will also test whether GxE interactions are part ofthe etiology of these disorders and their comorbidities. Even though there is considerable evidence for shared cognitive and genetic risk factors across these disorders, their relations have not been previously examined in the same sample.