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Recent proposed amendments to the federal special education law and proposed definitional changes in the seriously emotionally disturbed category suggest that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may become an increasingly important diagnostic entity within the field of behavioral disorders. To examine the potential impact on special education programs, 30 boys with pure hyperactivity (i.e., no other associated diagnoses) and 41 boys with mixed hyperactivity (i.e., hyperactivity with conduct or oppositional defiant disorders) were examined as to their IQ and academic functioning. Academic function was measured both on psychoeducational tests and on curriculum-based probes. Findings suggest a great deal of heterogeneity on all measures along with some decrement in academic performance if conduct or oppositional disorder were also present. Decrements tended to be statistically significant, however, on only two of several measures given. Reading comprehension results are of particular interest as are the small percentage of subjects who potentially qualify as learning disabled. Implications for academic expectations and special education eligibility are discussed.
Forness et al. (Sat,) studied this question.