Reading Comprehension and Written Composition Problems of Children with ADHD: Discussion of Research and Methodological Considerations

Abstract

The present study analyzed the performance of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when carrying out reading comprehension and written composition tasks. Thirty children with ADHD and 30 normally developing children without ADHD, matched on age, IQ, word retrieval and spelling, were selected. All of the subjects were evaluated using four types of reading comprehension tasks (literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, a fragment ordering task, and recall of story content), and a composition writing task. The results indicate that the two groups (ADHD and without ADHD) do not differ on literal comprehension or inferential comprehension. Nevertheless, our results show that children with ADHD perform significantly worse than the group without ADHD on the fragment ordering task, the recall of story content, and on different indicators of written language production, which depend primarily on self-regulation abilities necessary for organizing information and maintaining the level of effort. The findings suggest that the deficit observed in reading comprehension and written composition skills in children with ADHD may reflect deficiencies in executive processes. The methodology used in this research on the reading comprehension and written composition problems of children with ADHD presents a series of strengths and weaknesses. The reflections on the limitations identified in the study serve as a basis for establishing directions for future research.

Citation

Miranda, A., Soriano, M. and García, R. (2006), "Reading Comprehension and Written Composition Problems of Children with ADHD: Discussion of Research and Methodological Considerations", Scruggs, T.E. and Mastropieri, M.A. (Ed.) Applications of Research Methodology (Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 237-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0735-004X(06)19009-6