Metamemory development in preschool children with ADHD

An aspect of metacognition, metamemory (knowledge and awareness of one's memory) was investigated across time in preschool children with ADHD (n = 31) and a sample of age, sex, socioeconomic and IQ-matched typically developing children (n = 31). Only children with stable ADHD diagnoses were included. Participants were assessed on a variety of cognitive and parent report measures. Longitudinal results indicated that the preschool children with ADHD and typically developing children had similar intellectual capacities. In addition, at age 4, children with ADHD and typically developing children had comparable metamemory skills. Nevertheless, one year later, when control participants made strong gains in metamemory development, children with ADHD began to lag behind. It is therefore crucial that metamemory difficulties in children with ADHD are detected as soon as they appear so that they can be fully assessed and remediation programs put in place in the school and home.