Assessment of Attentional Difficulties in Underachieving Children

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Abstract
This study investigated cognitive and behavioral variables that differentiate normally achieving and underachieving children. We used measures of cognitive impulsivity, selective attention, sustained attention, reading comprehension, hyperactivity and self-control. Thirty-two Grades 3 and 4 children participated in this study. Twenty-two of the children were rated by their classroom teachers as performing 1 or more years behind their same-aged peers in language and mathematics. The remaining 10 children were normally achieving. We administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Matching Familiar Figures Test, the Central Incidental Memory Test, the Jumbled Numbers Game, and the Reading Comprehension Task to all of the subjects. Teachers rated their children on the Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale and the Self-Control Rating Scale. Results indicated no significant differences in measures of cognitive impulsivity, selective or sustained attention. Whereas these traditional indicators of underachievement were not able to discriminate between the two groups, teacher ratings of inattentive-passive behavior in the classroom and difficulties in peer relationships significantly discriminated the underachieving from the normally achieving children. The potential value of incorporating these aspects of a child’s academic underachievement into regular training programs for underachieving children is discussed.

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