Youngsters diagnosed as learning disabled may have received more educational help than ADD children in the 1980s. This may account for the differences in school performance between the two groups in the study.
ADD is considered a childhood disease marked by inattentive, impulsive and hyperactive behavior.
But this study's comparison of the fates of attention-deficit children to those with learning disabilities suggests that ADD is not a malady that yountsters will outgrow without treatment. Instead, ADD may be a condition that sticks with people as they age, hampering academic and social skills and slowing adjustments into both adolescence and adulthood. In the study, University researchers found that the grade point averages of 48 ADD teens were significantly lower than those of 37 adolescents diagnosed in childhood as learning disabled. The lowest averages belonged to ADD teens considered conduct problems as children. Problems with schoolwork often begin to show up for ADD students in middle school or high school.