Sluggish Cognitive Tempo: Examining its Impact on Educational Functioning

The purpose of this project was to examine the academic and
socio-emotional problems experienced by children with and without
elevated sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms. SCT refers to a
specific set of attentional symptoms, including excessive daydreaming,
mental confusion, seeming to be "in a fog," and slowed thinking or
behavior. It is a unique pattern of attentional difficulties that are
not captured by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This
study found that SCT can be reliably assessed by teachers using
school-wide screening procedures, with SCT being distinct from ADHD
inattention and invariant across sex and grade. This study also found
children with elevated SCT symptoms to have poorer academic functioning
than children without SCT, with findings across different academic
methods (including standardized achievement scores and grade point
average) and when controlling for ADHD inattentive symptoms.<br>