Working memory and ADHD: Can students with ADHD benefit from being taught strategies?

This study examined four research questions: (1) Are there group differences in working memory between students with ADHD and non-ADHD students matched for grade, reading and sex? (2) Are there strategy efficiency differences between a group of students with ADHD and a group of non-ADHD students? (3) Can a group of students with ADHD gain more on the Swanson Cognitive Processing Test (S-CPT) than a group of non-ADHD students when offered specific strategies to solve problems on the S-CPT? and (4) Can learning be improved for students with ADHD more than for non-ADHD students when teaching both groups specific learning strategies? The Swanson-Cognitive Processing Test (S-CPT) was used to measure working memory, strategy efficiency and gain scores. In Phase I, a between-subjects design, matching students by age, gender and CBM reading quartile level, was used to answer research questions one, two and three. In Phase II, a within-subject, baseline-treatment (A-B) design, was used to determine if students with ADHD who scored low on the Swanson-Cognitive Processing Test (S-CPT) could improve their classroom performance by being taught specific strategies in spelling and arithmetic to answer research question four. The independent variable for research question four was specific learning strategies and the dependent variables were curriculum based measures (CBM) in spelling and arithmetic which were administered three times a week for the eight week period of time the study covered. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in the working memory of students with ADHD, compared to non-ADHD students, in favor of the non-ADHD students, on the S-CPT. This finding supports Barkley\u27s New Theory of ADHD (1997). There was no significant difference between students with ADHD and non-ADHD peers in terms of their Strategy Efficiency Index (SEI) scores on the S-CPT; however, there was a significant difference in their Gain scores on the S-CPT for students with ADHD. Finally, CBM data from Phase II were analyzed. Overall, there was no apparent gain for either the students with ADHD or the non-ADHD students between baseline and treatment phases. However, there were individuals who did have significant gains in the treatment phase