University of Kentucky
Story Comprehension in Children with ADHD: A Story Mapping Intervention
Institution
University of Kentucky
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Richard Milich; Elizabeth Lorch
Abstract
Children with ADHD have significant problems in story comprehension. To date, no study has investigated whether intervention may help ameliorate this problem. My research is testing whether a story mapping procedure can help improve these children’s comprehension of stories, including improved recall of important events, goals, and causal relations. Our study involves children with ADHD and a comparison group, ages 9-13. The children listen to a tape recorded version of a story and then recall the story immediately after hearing it and then again after either a study session or a session involving training in story mapping. This is done in a training condition and a generalization condition, with two different recorded stories. The dependent variable is number of idea units recalled. The study is a 2(ADHD v Comparison) x 2(Study v Story Mapping) x 2(Pre-Condition v Post-Condition) design. We expect that all children will remember more information in the post-condition session and that children trained in Story Mapping will recall more than children who simply studied. Similarly, while we assume that the comparison children will remember more, we hope to find that the children with ADHD will show more improvement from the training condition to the generalization condition. Implications for improved academic performance and school interventions will be discussed.
Story Comprehension in Children with ADHD: A Story Mapping Intervention
Children with ADHD have significant problems in story comprehension. To date, no study has investigated whether intervention may help ameliorate this problem. My research is testing whether a story mapping procedure can help improve these children’s comprehension of stories, including improved recall of important events, goals, and causal relations. Our study involves children with ADHD and a comparison group, ages 9-13. The children listen to a tape recorded version of a story and then recall the story immediately after hearing it and then again after either a study session or a session involving training in story mapping. This is done in a training condition and a generalization condition, with two different recorded stories. The dependent variable is number of idea units recalled. The study is a 2(ADHD v Comparison) x 2(Study v Story Mapping) x 2(Pre-Condition v Post-Condition) design. We expect that all children will remember more information in the post-condition session and that children trained in Story Mapping will recall more than children who simply studied. Similarly, while we assume that the comparison children will remember more, we hope to find that the children with ADHD will show more improvement from the training condition to the generalization condition. Implications for improved academic performance and school interventions will be discussed.