There have been numerous studies conducted on how ADHD affects children in terms of their social interactions and

abilities. Many such recent studies and reviews will concur that children with ADHD do indeed have the age appropriate knowledge regarding the rules of social interaction and such scripts, however they are unable to utilize this to control their behavior when put in a social situation (W). However, researchers are less prone to agree with each other regarding what kinds of processes cause the children's inability to behave in a manner that is socially appropriate. Michael J. Kofler et al. examined the role of working memory in social interaction. For their experiment they had 39 participants, all boys between the ages of 8 and 12. They were recruited from the Children's Learning Clinic-IV through referrals from various mental health professionals. The CLC conducts research with its consenting client base, which recruits of children with suspected learning, behavioral or emotional issues. In order to diagnose the presence of ADHD in such a variety of children the researchers for this study employed the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children (K-SADS). This is an evaluation for the beginning, development, extent, severity and disability of current and past occurrences of psychopathology in children and teenagers, based on DSM-IV criteria (W). Using multiple factors for evaluation it was found that within the group of thirty-nine boys, twenty-three of them met the criteria for ADHD-Combined Type. Sixteen children showed no evidence of suffering from any clinical disorder. In order to measure working memory, the participants performed several tasks that measured the three different components of working memory: phonological, visuospatial and the central executive. The central executive is the primary system, and aids in focusing and dividing attention depending on the stimuli. The phonological working memory task involved recalling numbers that were arbitrarily presented but in the order of smallest to largest, and to recall the single alphabet that had been presented with the jumble of numbers. The visuospatial working memory task involved a visual task on the computer that required focusing on the order of presented stimuli. Social problems that the children may have been having were reported by their parents and teachers, using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher Report Form. Assessments of the children's ADHD symptoms were measured by the CSI Inattentive and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity symptom sub-scales. The children were also given the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children to gauge their intellectual abilities.