Comparison of the Cognitive Processing Structures of Students Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Specific Learning Disorder According to Cognitive Assessment System Scores

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the cognitive processing structures of students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorder (SLD). AD and HD in this study are grouped separately. There are no students diagnosed as having two subgroups together. METHODS: A total of 105 students, 35 AD, 35 SLD, and 35 HD, who were applied to the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) and diagnosed by an expert, were selected as the sample. The students were evaluated according to their CAS full scale scores and the results of planning, attention, and simultaneous and successive cognitive processing areas. RESULTS: It was examined whether the cognitive processing areas of the students differed among the diagnosis groups by one-way analysis of variance. Although no significant difference was found in the cognitive processing full scale score among the diagnosis groups, significant differences were found between the cognitive processing areas among the diagnosis groups. The planning scale scores of the students in the HD diagnosis group were lower than the other groups, the attention scale scores of the students in the AD diagnosis group were lower than the HD and SLD diagnostic groups, and simultaneous and successive cognitive processing scores of the students in the SLD diagnosis group were lower than the scores of the students in the HD and AD diagnosis groups. In our study, it was determined that students in different diagnosis groups have different cognitive structures. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare and apply different cognitive intervention programs suitable for each diagnostic group. CONCLUSION: Determining the cognitive processing areas of students in different diagnosis groups will guide the creation of the content of cognitive intervention programs.