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Sara Hart, of the Florida State University, and her colleagues used twins enrolled in a long-term study of reading and math. Hart says by focusing on twins specifically, psychological scientists are able to tease out the difference between nature and nurture.
To do this, scientists compare identical twins, who have nearly the same DNA, with fraternal twins, who generally only share about half of their DNA. If identical twins are generally more alike on a trait - say, their eye color or reading ability - and fraternal twins are much less alike on the same trait, you can presume the trait is inherited. On the other hand, if pairs of identical twins are alike on a trait to the same extent that pairs of fraternal twins are alike on that trait - like how outgoing they are - you know the trait is probably influenced by their environment. Most traits fall somewhere in between, and twin studies can show that, too.
In this case, Hart and her colleagues were interested in how twins matched up on symptoms of ADHD, reading achievement, and math achievement. At about age 10, every pair of twins was tested on their reading and math ability. Their mothers also filled out surveys on any problems the children have with attention or hyperactivity.
The researchers found that ADHD behaviors, reading achievement, and math achievement were all influenced by the same genetic influences; this doesn't prove anything about what causes what, but some psychological scientists think that all three might be linked through the working memory system.
Although common genetic influences is a typical result from twin studies, the exciting aspect of this work was that that ADHD behaviors, reading achievement, and math achievement are also associated by common environmental influences.
Although it is not known what the actual environmental influences are, Hart and her colleagues suggest that it could be related to aspects of the classroom and homework environment. If researchers can figure out what these environmental influences really are, they may be able to help children with ADHD do better in school.
There's a wealth of material available that shows these children in their true light, although teachers and educational bureaucrats never mention this when insisting to parents that their children are mentally handicapped. Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD is the most useful single source of information and positive views.
In a classroom context, here's ADHD in a nutshell:
An exchange between so-called ADHD children and teachers that's so common someone in the educational bureaucracies would have noticed by now if they were in their right minds goes as follows:
The teacher gives the class 100 simple arithmetic examples. The child does the first few, and by watching what he (it's usually a he because boys are expected to be more robotic than girls - they're more vulnerable to boredom addiction) is doing, he grasps the principle of the operation.
This is an understanding based memory, which is with him for life, and which will immediately suggest itself in any life situation where it is useful. After that, the child sees no point in doing the remaining examples, and looks out of the window.
The teacher then claims the child is too stupid to remember to keep doing the pointless examples, and the child responds that since he now understands the principle, he can't see the point of doing any more. The teacher then perversely pretends that the child has said there is no point in learning, and eggs on the rest of the class to ridicule the unfortunate child on this basis.