Emotion Recognition Skill in Specific Learning Disorder and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Social difficulties can affect both academic and relational-social functioning in common neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder. It is known that social cognitive skills directly affect social functioning. The aim in this study is to examine the social cognitive skill of facial emotion recognition in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder and to investigate whether literacy learning is related to emotion recognition.

In the study, we compared the emotion recognition skill of 41 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, 50 with specific learning disorder, and 43 typically developed children using the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between children's emotion recognition ability and literacy learning time.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorder groups did not show a statistically significant difference in terms of Reading Mind in the Eyes Test scores, but both groups had lower scores than their typically eveloped peers (P < .001). In addition, we found that low Reading Mind in the Eyes Test scores were associated with late learning in reading and writing (P < .001, r  = -.033).

This study found that the specific learning disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder groups showed similar but poorer impact recognition skills than their typically developed peers. In addition, we showed that literacy learning speed is related to emotion recognition.