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work that it takes to maintain the friendship. As the pattern continues, children with ADHD
begin to become accustomed to rejection and their self-esteem suffers.

The listed authors performed a study that analyzed the conversation responses of both
children that were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and an undiagnosed
group of children between the ages of 7 and 12. In the study, the children were given access to a
computerized chat room in which each child had a conversation with computer-simulated peers.
Each child was given the same conversation stimulus and responses from the computer-
simulated peer across both the diagnosed and undiagnosed groups. Members of both groups were
free to respond to the stimulus however they felt appropriate. After the study was completed,
children that were diagnosed with ADHD reportedly made responses that were hostile and
negative compared to those of the undiagnosed children. The conversation with the diagnosed
group veered off topic on several different occasions while the undiagnosed group’s
conversations had little difficulty completing a full conversation about a specific topic. The
responses of the diagnosed group also showed evidence of poor memory, were aggressive, and
tended to foster disruptive behavior (Mikami, Huang-Pollock, Pfiffner, McBurnett, & Hangai
2007).

While the aggressive and self-centered behavior that children with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder often seem to possess greatly inhibits a child’s ability to socially interact,
much of this stems from the child’s lack of ability to communicate. When prompted by a
question, a child that has been diagnosed has trouble focusing on the question presented and
therefore lags in their response. Young children that have not been diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have difficulty understanding the silence gap between the
question and response, and they translate the conversation as rude or that the child is not

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