Comparison of the Performance of College Students Classified as ADHD, LD, and LD/ADHD in Foreign Language Courses

Abstract

In this study, college students classified as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who had fulfilled the foreign language (FL) requirement were compared with students classified as learning disabled (LD) or both LD and ADHD who had either substituted courses for the college FL requirement (petition) or had passed FL courses (nonpetition) on cognitive and academic achievement measures and in FL course grades. Findings revealed few between‐group differences on the testing measures and also showed that all 5 groups scored in the average to above‐average range on all measures of cognitive ability and academic achievement and achieved primarily average to above‐average grades in college FL courses. Results indicated that petition status and disability classification were not important in differentiating the 5 groups’ cognitive ability, academic achievement skills, and graduating grade point average.