This research is the result of a chance encounter between a group of researchers and clinicians with an interest in developing assessment methods and cognitive and sensorimotor interventions.

The first contact with our clinical partner occurred several years ago at a conference of the Association Canadienne Française pour l’Avancement des Sciences (ACFAS). We met for a second time at the International Association for Cognitive Education annual conference in May 2002. This second meeting confirmed our desire to carry out joint projects combining the two fields relevant to the Academic Persistence and Success program, those being attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cognitive education.

Our vision was to propose assessments and interventions that could be integrated into multimodal learning strategies.

Our team’s vision was to propose school-based, classroom-based and home-based assessments and interventions that could be integrated into multimodal learning strategies carried out with a view to maximizing efficacy and cost/benefit. Such strategies could be combined with drug therapies in accordance with the wishes of the families involved. There is no point in proposing specific long, complex educational strategies that could lead to stigmatization and have adverse effects contrary to our aims. It is just as pointless to propose therapeutic interventions that, all too often, take children with ADHD or their parents away from their natural learning environments.

We were also careful to provide a solid theoretical rationale before initiating any actual intervention or program development. To that end, we examined the fundamental aspects of the cognitive profiles of children with ADHD and their practical applications.

We believe that different metacognitive education and cognitive remediation strategies can modifier children’s cognitive and sensorimotor environment, thereby limiting the expression of genes associated with ADHD behaviours and strengthening the capacity for resilience.

Main researcher

Hélène Poissant, Université du Québec à Montréal

Research report

Call for proposals

Deposit of the research report: June 2007