Sluggish Cognitive Tempo: Realidad actual

Se describen los ámbitos científicos y hallazgos acumulados en los últimos años sobre la dimensión Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT). Se analiza la realidad actual atendiendo a aspectos conceptuales; instrumentales; implicaciones clínicas, académicas, sociales; y la relación que mantiene el SCT con factores biológicos y conductuales. Los hallazgos revisados permiten comprender y situar esta dimensión en el contexto de la investigación sobre los individuos que, con sintomatología inatenta, se diferencian de aquellos que cumplen con los criterios diagnósticos para la presentación inatenta. Se concluye subrayando las limitaciones actuales en el conocimiento de esta dimensión y los ámbitos de desarrollo en el futuro

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Latino Youth

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) is seen in some children and may include: daydreaming, inconsistent alertness, absentmindedness, behaving or thinking slowly, appearing tired after enough sleep, and lacking energy. The symptoms can be divided into two domains: cognitive and behavioral. SCT is associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). SCT can impact academic and social functioning and be associated with elevated anxiety and depression. Literature on SCT focuses mainly on Caucasian children. Objectives: To examine the prevalence of SCT and external correlates in a case study of four Latino children. Methods: A case study where parents completed questionnaires about their child’s behaviors. Results: Four out of thirteen respondents endorsed SCT symptoms for their child. Of the four children, one showed a cognitive, one a behavioral, and two a combined presentation. Two met the threshold for ADHD inattentive type. One showed moderate academic difficulty and two showed below average peer interactions. One met the threshold for generalized anxiety disorder, and two met the threshold for separation anxiety disorder. Sub-clinical symptoms of depression were endorsed for two of the children. Conclusion: The case sample provides support for further study of SCT including the heterogeneity of symptoms and two symptom clusters in a Latino population. SCT was seen across age, grade level, and gender and impacted several domains of functioning

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Latino Youth

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) is observed in some children and may include daydreaming, inconsistent alertness, mental fogginess, confusion, absentmindedness, behaving or thinking slowly, appearing tired even after a full night of sleep, and lacking energy. The symptoms are said to be multidimensional with two domains: cognitive and behavioral. SCT is often associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). High SCT (HSCT) has been shown to impact academic and social functioning and be associated with elevated anxiety and depression symptoms in children. The majority of extant literature focuses primarily on Caucasian children. The primary objective was to examine the prevalence of SCT and common external correlates in a school-based case study of four Latino children. Parents completed a series of questionnaires about their child’s behaviors. Four out of thirteen respondents endorsed SCT symptoms for their child, with two of them reporting HSCT. Those two children also had enough symptoms to indicate ADHD inattentive type. One HSCT child was reported to have moderate academic difficulty; and both were reported to have social impairments. One HSCT child met the indication for generalized anxiety disorder, and they both met the indication for separation anxiety disorder. One HSCT child had a behavioral symptom presentation and the other had a combined cognitive/behavioral symptom presentation. The case study provides support for the continued study of SCT in a Latino population. The study found SCT to be prevalent across Latino children of different ages, grade levels, and genders and to impact several domains of functioning. The study also provides support for the heterogeneity of SCT symptom presentation, and the presence of two symptom clusters: cognitive and behavioral

Identification of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo by Teachers

Children with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) are characterized by a hypoactive, sluggish behavior pattern that does not fully fit the conceptualization of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as was previously believed. Interest in this topic has surged recently, perhaps due to the fact that many researchers now view SCT as a construct that exists outside of ADHD (Barkley, 2014). SCT is associated with unique etiology, impairment, and comorbidities. Unlike ADHD, SCT represents a more passive form of inattention that may not disrupt the classroom. Thus, SCT may go unnoticed despite the fact that it is related to many academic and social difficulties (Becker & Langberg, 2013), and that early identification and intervention are crucial for the child’s success. The current study examined pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of SCT compared to two more well-known childhood disorders. Specifically, 161 Elementary Education majors read vignettes describing three fictitious boys presenting with symptoms of SCT, a common externalizing disorder (ADHD), and a common internalizing disorder (Social Phobia; SP), and rated each of the three vignettes in terms of their concern for the boy described. Results indicate that participants viewed all three disorders as concerning, but viewed the ADHD and SCT behaviors as the most problematic. However, participants indicated they would be the most likely to refer the child with SP to a school psychologist. Participants also had the most favorable attitudes toward working with the child with SP. Results highlight the need to better educate pre-service teachers about mental health problems in the classroom

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo In A Pediatric Population

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT), a constellation of symptoms distinguished by daydreaming and lethargy, was previously thought to be characteristic of ADHD. However, it was found that this set of symptoms consistently loaded onto a separate factor. Increased interest in determining the diagnostic validity of SCT has led researchers to study SCT symptoms in relation to other psychological conditions, as well as various functional outcomes. The present study examined the extent to which SCT predicted poorer functioning across measures of cognition, academic achievement, and social problems above and beyond other factors that have been found to co-occur with SCT and independently relate to reduced performance in the aforementioned domains (e.g., IQ, ADHD symptoms, and internalizing symptoms). In a sample of 114 clinic-referred children and adolescents with and without ADHD diagnoses, two-step hierarchical regression results revealed that teacher rated SCT (n = 89) predicted simple processing speed performance over and above key covariates (IQ, ADHD symptoms, and internalizing symptoms). However, teacher ratings of SCT did not significantly relate to math computation performance or teacher rated social problems after adjusting for covariates. These results highlight the importance of continuing to explore potential functional deficits associated with SCT while being mindful of how other related factors, such as IQ, ADHD, and internalizing symptoms may influence those associations

Internal and External Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Young Adolescents with ADHD

Adolescents with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) show symptoms of slowness, mental confusion, excessive daydreaming, low motivation, and drowsiness/sleepiness. Although many symptoms of SCT reflect internalizing states, no study has evaluated the utility of self-report of SCT in an ADHD sample. Further, it remains unclear whether SCT is best conceptualized as a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. In a sample of 262 adolescents comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD, the present study evaluated the dimensionality of a SCT scale and compared CFA and bifactor model fits for parent- and self-report versions. Analyses revealed the three-factor bifactor model to be the best fitting model. In addition, SCT factors predicted social and academic impairment and internalizing symptoms. Therefore, SCT as a multidimensional construct appears to have clinical utility in predicting impairment. Also, multiple reporters should be used, as they predicted different areas of functioning and were not invariant, suggesting that each rater adds unique information

Temporal Processing And Sluggish Cognitive Tempo In College Students

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) was previously conceptualized in the literature as a cluster of symptoms related to the inattentive (IA) subtype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Recent evidence, however, has demonstrated that SCT is a distinct construct independent of, but often comorbid with, ADHD-IA. Still, findings regarding the cognitive underpinnings of SCT are rather limited, particularly in comparison to ADHD. The aim of the current study is to add to the literature on SCT by examining the association between SCT and temporal processing abilities in a population of college-aged adults. Specifically, this study examines the associations between self-reported SCT symptom severity, time estimation/time reproduction abilities, and other time management measures. Multiple linear regressions were conducted on seven dependent variables controlling for influence of ADHD. Results demonstrate that self-endorsement of SCT-related behavior may not substantially relate to performance on temporal processing tasks but does associate with participants’ self-reported of temporal processing abilities. Findings from this study will add to extant literature on SCT and will help to establish its potential association with temporal processing abilities

Identification of sluggish cognitive tempo by pre-service teachers

Current research suggests that Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) is a distinct attentional disorder from Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that is characterized by a hypoactive, sluggish behavior pattern (Barkley, 2014). Further, unlike ADHD, SCT represents a more passive form of inattention that does not overly disrupt classroom learning goals. Thus children with SCT may be ‘falling through the cracks’ in schools. If children with SCT are going unrecognized in the classroom, they are likely not getting referred for treatment and additional educational services. SCT is related to many internalizing, academic, and social difficulties (Becker & Langberg, 2013, 2014) and early identification and intervention is crucial to maximize the child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to bring attention to an understudied topic and to identify whether children with SCT are going unrecognized in the classroom. Specifically, this project examined pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions of SCT. Undergraduate education majors read vignettes describing three fictitious boys presenting with symptoms of SCT, a common externalizing disorder (ADHD), and a common internalizing disorder (Social Anxiety Disorder; SA) and rated each of the three vignettes in terms of their concern for the boy described. Results were analyzed using a series of repeated measures ANOVAs and logistic and linear regressions. Pre-service teachers viewed all three sets of symptoms as concerning, but viewed the ADHD behaviors as the most problematic. These results are promising, as they suggest that pre-service teachers are concerned about both hyperactive behavioral problems in childhood (i.e., ADHD) and non-hyperactive behavioral problems (i.e., SCT and SA). However, pre-service teachers indicated they would be the most likely to refer the child with SA to a school psychologist. These results highlight the need to better educate pre-service teachers about childhood psychopathology to ensure that all children experiencing mental health problems are receiving the necessary services to succeed in school. This is especially important for less common disorders as well as newer symptom clusters, such as SCT. Implications for how best to identify SCT and future directions are discussed

Investigating the Construct Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Children

The term Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) refers to attention difficulties that are characterized by a constellation of symptoms ranging from excessive daydreaming to drowsiness, sluggishness, and lethargy. Although several SCT scales have been developed in recent years, researchers have yet to agree upon an ideal set of symptoms. In addition, it remains unclear whether SCT consists of a single dimension or if it is a multidimensional construct. The first aim of this study was to extend research related to SCT symptomatology and measurement by conducting a comprehensive investigation of SCT symptoms. A 25-item scale was developed to include each of the behavioral characteristics associated with SCT in previous research, as well as items from each of the previously identified possible dimensions of SCT. Parents of 301 elementary school aged children, ages 5 to 11 years, completed an online survey. Exploratory factor analyses were used in order to investigate the construct validity and dimensionality of the SCT scale. Results of this study provide additional support for the inclusion of 11 primary items within an ideal symptom set for measuring SCT. Results of the factor analyses suggest that SCT is multidimensional, consisting of three underlying dimensions which include items associated with daydreaming, sleepy/sluggish symptoms, and slow processing and task completion. The second aim of this study was to extend research related to the external validity of SCT. Twenty-eight children between the ages of 5 and 11 years were administered measures of general intellectual ability, processing speed, sustained attention, and working memory, in addition to the SCT scale. Their parent also completed a measure of executive functioning (EF) in daily life. Results of this study suggest that SCT is significantly related to the EF domains of working memory and shifting as measured by a parent-completed rating scale; however, SCT was not significantly related to performance on individually administered tests of general intelligence, processing speed, sustained attention, or working memory after controlling for symptoms of inattention associated with ADHD. Implications and future directions are discussed

Cognitive Styles in Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Depression

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a symptom profile characterized by both behavioral and cognitive symptoms, including daydreaming, thinking and moving slowly, and being lost in one&rsquo;s thoughts and/or easily confused. A growing body of research suggests a strong association between SCT and depression, and there has also been speculation that SCT may be related to specific cognitive styles, including perseveration, mind-wandering, and rumination. The current study examined five cognitive styles (rumination, perseverative thinking, mind-wandering, cognitive failures, and daydreaming) as potential mechanisms underlying SCT and tested whether these cognitive styles explained any part of the well-demonstrated association between SCT and depression. Four unselected samples of undergraduate participants and one clinic-referred sample of children and adolescents were analyzed in this study (N=5,637). Following factor analyses demonstrating the separability of SCT from depression and other psychopathology, a structural equation model was estimated to investigate the unique and shared deficits associated with the relationship between SCT and depression in one undergraduate sample (N = 236). In this model, daydreaming was only significantly associated with SCT, and mind wandering, rumination, and cognitive failures were significantly associated with SCT and one or both depression factors, providing evidence of shared deficits across constructs. A multiple deficit model also provided support for this hypothesis, showing that elevations across multiple cognitive styles, including cognitive failures, were significantly associated with SCT. These findings provide support for the role of specific cognitive styles in the relationship between SCT and depression.</p