Intermediate Students, ADHD, and Reading Comprehension

1. Intermediate Students, ADHD, and Reading Comprehension Issues and Interventions Jeanne Dowdell University of New England EDU744 June 17, 2011

2. What is ADHD and what are its external symptoms? • Three interrelated characteristics of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. • Chronic problems with staying focused, being organized, and regulating emotions. • Children appear to display less effort with academic tasks, and may create disruptive actions in the classroom. • Previous ADHD diagnoses aligned with behavior disorders. • Treatments and accommodations usually aimed at external problems, such as fidgetiness and distractibility.

3. What happens on the inside? ADHD can result in the “developmental impairment of the executive functions of the brain” (p. I/47). (Kahl, Kordon, & Wahl, 2006) Executive Functions Stay alert Retain and access information Maintain concentration Manipulate ideas Sustain effort Organize tasks Make predictions Develop connections

4. What does the research say about ADHDand learning? • Impaired executive function • Difficulties with working memory • Chronic problems in sustaining attention • Kahl, Kordon, and Wahl • (2006) • Weaknesses in retaining verbal material • Lessened recall of new information • Cutting, Koth, Malone, and Denckla • (2003) • Berthiaume • (2006) • Disconnection with causal relationships • Inability to filter important from unimportant information • Missed cues for significant story events

5. Issues and Interventions How does ADHD affect reading comprehension? What interventions can work for ADHD students?

6. How does literacy learning change in the intermediate grades? • Increasing amounts of content and skills • More complex and multi-step tasks • Demands for greater independence • More data to acquire and organize • Construction of deeper meaning and inferences • Understanding of causal relationships in text

7. What happens to ADHD students with these greater literacy demands? W O R K I N G M E M O R Y Executive Function

8. What interventions can improve reading comprehension for ADHD students?

9. Final thoughts on intermediate students, ADHD, and reading comprehension: Understanding the neurological differences for ADHD students can direct educators to implement and consistently use middle grade literacy interventions that will steady and strengthen reading comprehension. These strategies will not only benefit our students with ADHD, but can improve reading achievement for all students. + =

10. References Berthiaume, K.S. (2006). Story comprehension and academic deficits in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: What is the connection?. School Psychology Review,35(2), 309-323. Cutting, L.E., Koth, C.W., Mahone, E., & Denckla, M.B. (2003). Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder without reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(3), 259-269. Kahl, K.G., Kordon, A.A., & Wahl, K.K. (2006). A new understanding of attention-deficit disorders -- Beyond the age-at-onset criterion of DSM-IV. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 256i47-i54. Ostoits, J. (1999). Reading strategies for students with ADD and ADHD in the inclusive classroom. Preventing School Failure, 43(3), 129-132. Woolley, G. (2010). Developing reading comprehension: Combining visual and verbal cognitive processes. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 33(2), 108-125.