What Skills Challenges Do ADHD Kids Face Besides Executive Function?

What Skills Challenges Do ADHD Kids Face Besides Executive Function? By: Candice M. Hughes, PhD, MBA Based on the struggles your child with ADHD has with homework and chores, you already know that he has challenges with focus and planning, typical executive function challenges. But did you know that many children with ADHD also have social skills challenges? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that children with ADHD are 10 times more likely to have difficulty with peer friendships than other children. Some of the challenges faced by children with ADHD include impulsiveness that causes them to speak before thinking (unfiltered, potentially upsetting comments), black and white thinking (inability to grasp or accept situational nuances), and conflict between a strict cost/benefit perspective and empathy (belief that the other person will benefit from hearing the information combined with challenges in understanding the emotional impact to the other person). These challenges cause them to have difficulty making friends and being accepted by their peers. Often these social concerns remain following treatment with stimulants or other ADHD medications. Although the name, social skills, implies that these behaviors affect relationships, thus appearing to be mainly a concern for extracurricular activities, in reality social skills affect many aspects of life including school and even grades. This is because kids who have poor social skills have problems interacting with teachers as well as peers. They may say things that the teachers find disruptive or insubordinate even though the child does not understand that their comments […]