SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cognition
Attention Skills, Learning and Academic Abilities in Children and Adolescents with Genetic Disorders: A Systematic Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Education Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
- 2Universita degli Studi di Catania, Catania, Italy
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Attention is critical to learning as it enables concentration and retention. Attention deficits are associated with academic difficulties, particularly in children and adolescents with genetic disorders. This systematic review examined the relationship between attention and academic performance in Down syndrome (DS), Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), Klinefelter Syndrome (KS), Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), Turner Syndrome (TS), and Williams Syndrome (WS). Nine studies focusing on DS, FXS and NF1 were selected. No eligible studies were found for KS, PWS, TS and WS. The results showed significant associations between attention deficits and poor academic performance, though the findings varied depending on the genetic condition. For NF1, persistent attention and inhibitory control deficits impaired reading and math. Single studies on DS and FXS suggested similar associations, which require further confirmation. Overall, the evidence remains limited and should be interpreted with caution. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to address attention deficits and improve academic performance in children and adolescents with genetic disorders.
Keywords: Attention, Learning, genetic disorders, Children, adolescents
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 COMMODARI, La Rosa and Foti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Valentina Lucia La Rosa, valarosa@unict.it
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