Decoding Emotions: Neurobehavioral Research on Facial Expression Recognition in Children with ADHD

This webinar reviews neurobehavioral research on how children with ADHD process emotional facial expressions and what these findings may mean for clinical practice, education, and behavior intervention. Using the study by Ichikawa et al. (2014) as a foundation, the training examines hemodynamic brain responses to emotional faces measured through near-infrared spectroscopy and connects these findings to attention, emotion recognition, social interpretation, self-regulation, and behavioral presentation in children with ADHD.

Participants will explore how differences in emotional face processing may affect peer interactions, classroom behavior, frustration tolerance, social problem-solving, and the interpretation of social cues. The webinar also considers how ADHD-related differences in attention, inhibition, arousal, and executive functioning may influence how children recognize, organize, and respond to emotional information in real time.

A central ethical theme of this webinar is the importance of not misunderstanding children with ADHD. When emotional misreading, delayed processing, impulsive responding, or poor inhibition is interpreted only as rudeness, defiance, lack of empathy, or intentional noncompliance, children may receive interventions that do not match the actual source of the difficulty.

This training emphasizes the ethical responsibility of clinicians and educators to consider neurodevelopmental factors, avoid overpathologizing or blaming the child, and use assessment-informed intervention planning that is compassionate, accurate, and individualized.

The focus is on translating neurobehavioral findings into practical clinical questions for BCBAs, psychologists, educators, LMHCs, social workers, and interdisciplinary professionals working with individuals with ADHD and related neurodevelopmental differences. Participants will consider how emotional processing findings may inform observation, assessment interpretation, intervention planning, social skills instruction, antecedent supports, reinforcement systems, environmental modifications, and collaboration with families and school teams.

Format: On-demand webinar
Length: 50 minutes
CEUs: 1 BACB CEU
Presenter: Dr. Vanetta LaRosa
Audience: BCBAs, BCBA-Ds, BCaBAs, psychologists, educators, LMHCs, social workers, school-based consultants, clinical supervisors, and interdisciplinary professionals supporting individuals with ADHD and related neurodevelopmental differences

Disclaimer

This training is for professional education only. Assessment instruments are discussed only at the level of general clinical purpose and treatment-planning implications. No proprietary test items, scoring forms, protocols, stimulus materials, rating-scale items, or administration procedures are reproduced. Participants should consult official publishers, manuals, and professional standards for authorized test administration, scoring, and interpretation.