Utilising independent event-related potentials to determine if learners can be classified as attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder based on their auditory difficulties

Abstract

This is a theoretical article (Article 1of2) followed by an empirical article (Article 2 of 2). This paper gives a theoretical overview of research findings in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Auditory Processing Disorder (OPD). Objective: The objective of this article was to determine the role auditory difficulty plays in the ADHD process by using the Electro Encephalograph (EEG). Results: Research results mostly described ADHD in terms of executive functions and frontal lobe involvement, but auditory involvement and sensory input from the parietal lobe were found more and more to be integral parts of attention systems in ADHD during this literature overview. The literature findings clearly underlined the influence the one has on the other or the interplay between these two disorders. Auditory Event-Related Potential (ERP) patterns were further investigated by means of literature overview. Most of the research isolated the P1, P2, N2 and P3 ERP components as the significant electrical components during the ADHD process. Conclusion: ADHD and ERP components can be isolated, but they still have an intricate effect on one another which cannot be separated. These components that have been isolated will further be analysed during an empirical analysis in the follow-up article to further analyse the role auditory processing plays in ADHD children’s difficulties. This process hopes to bring better understanding to parents, clinicians and therapists involved with ADHD children in South Africa in order to relieve the financial as well as emotional burden of this disorder.