Children with ADHD - Looking For Attention, UK

Main Category: ADHD
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 02 Sep 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Children with ADHD need to look away from faces longer so that they can think. While it may seem that they are not paying attention, these children may find it easier to concentrate by averting their gaze.

This is the finding of research by Dr Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon of the University of Stirling, presented on Wednesday 29 August 2007 at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Annual Conference being held at the University of Plymouth.

When we think we often look away from the face of the person we are talking to. Dr Doherty-Sneddon has carried out many studies looking at how gaze aversion actually helps children to think.

Children with and without ADHD were asked to solve mental arithmetic questions of varying difficulty. All children looked away from the face of the person they were talking to when they were thinking, however the children with ADHD needed to look away a lot more than average children. The harder the question, the longer the non-ADHD children looked away for, whereas ADHD children consistently needed to look away a lot, even for the easier questions.

Dr Doherty-Sneddon said: "ADHD children find looking at faces extremely difficult so face to face contact may interfere with their ability to think."

She added that by paying attention to children's eye gaze patterns, teachers and parents have an additional window into the mind of the child, helping them to better understand and interpret children's thinking processes. Instead of interpreting looking away as a sign of inattention, children's gaze aversion can in fact show that they are engaging in a bit of thinking time.

British Psychological Society