Thanks for this emailed information from PragmaticMom [pragmaticmom.com@gmail.com].

This is from Christina Samuels of EducationWeek: Reading Disability Risk In Girls With ADHD

The study, which looked at more than 5,000 Minnesota youth, found that children with ADHD have dramatically higher rates of reading disabilities than youth without the disorder. The incidence of reading disabilities among boys with ADHD was 51 percent, and among girls it was 46.7 percent. For boys without ADHD, the reading disability rate among the study participants was 14.5 percent; among girls it was 7.7 percent.

This news is particularly noteworthy for girls, because those who don’t have ADHD have relatively low rate of reading disabilities,according to the study. The authors conclude: “Although the American Academy of Pediatrics clinical practice guideline on the diagnosis and evaluation of children with ADHD does not specifically recommend psychoeducational testing for every child with ADHD, our findings clearly demonstrate that it is essential for clinicians to assess all children with ADHD for the presence of comorbid [reading disabilities.]”

This is the actual study published in Pediatrics:

RESULTS Cumulative incidence of RD by the age of 19 years was significantlyhigher in children with ADHD (51% in boys, 46.7% in girls) comparedwith those without ADHD (14.5% in boys, 7.7% in girls). Among children with ADHD, the risk for RD was similar in boys versusgirls (HR: 1.0). However, among children without ADHD, boyswere 2.0 times more likely than girls to meet RD criteria. Amonggirls, the HR for the risk for RD associated with ADHD (versusthose without ADHD) was 8.1 (95% confidence interval: 5.7–11.5),which was significantly higher than the corresponding HR amongboys (3.9 [95% confidence interval: 3.2–4.9]).

CONCLUSIONS The risk for RD is significantly greater among children withADHD compared with those without ADHD. Among children with ADHD,the risk for RD is the same for boys and girls. However, among children without ADHD, boys are more at risk for RD than girls.Among girls, the magnitude of increased risk for RD associatedwith ADHD is nearly twice that among boys, because girls withoutADHD are less likely to have RD than boys without ADHD.

Here are some learning disability resources.