The Task Matters: A Scoping Review on Reading Comprehension Abilities in ADHD

Abstract

Objective: A broad range of tasks have been used to classify individuals with ADHD with reading comprehension difficulties. However, the inconsistency in the literature warrants a scoping review of current knowledge about the relationship between ADHD diagnosis and reading comprehension ability. Method: A comprehensive search strategy was performed to identify relevant articles on the topic. Thirty-four articles met inclusion criteria for the current review. Results: The evidence as a whole suggests reading comprehension is impaired in ADHD. The most prominent effect was found in studies where participants retell or pick out central ideas in stories. On these tasks, participants with ADHD performed consistently worse than typically developing controls. However, some studies found that performance in ADHD improved when reading comprehension task demands were low. Conclusion: Results suggest that performance in ADHD depends on the way reading comprehension is measured and further guide future work clarifying why there are such discrepant findings across studies.

O processamento de sentenças passivas por adultos com sintomas de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade: um estudo exploratório

“…Assim, Indivíduos com TDAH têm quase o dobro de chance de atender aos critérios diagnósticos de transtorno de linguagem (BIEDERMAN, 2006). Entretanto, independentemente das comorbidades apresentadas, crianças com TDAH podem desenvolver dificuldades na compreensão e produção linguística em consequência dos déficits atencionais e executivos (AVRAMOVICH & YEARI, 2022;KORREL et al 2017;PARKS et al, 2022).…”

“…As dificuldades linguísticas presentes no TDAH são pouco descritas na literatura, particularmente considerando-se o nível da sentença e o domínio morfossintático, como apontam revisões sistemáticas específicas das dificuldades linguísticas no TDAH (KORREL et al, 2017;PARKS et al, 2022), assim como uma revisão que integra resultados obtidos com crianças com TDAH e TDL, no domínio da morfossintaxe (REDMOND, 2016). De fato, estudos em que a linguagem no TDAH é investigada tendem a se concentrar em crianças e a atentar para dificuldades presentes no domínio discursivo e pragmático, as quais são brevemente descritas como relacionadas aos sintomas de hiperatividade/impulsividade do DSM -V (HAWKINS et al, 2016).…”

An Objective Assessment of Effect of Stimulants on Attention in Individuals With ADHD

“…Individuals with ADHD often experience impaired reading fluency (Ghelani et al, 2004; Jacobson et al, 2013) and comprehension (Jacobson et al, 2011; Tamm et al, 2014),with difficulties pertaining to sustained attention, processing speed, and verbal working memory (Jacobson et al, 2011) as contributing factors (Cheng et al, 2022; Gray & Climie, 2016; Parks et al, 2022). Although some mixed results have been reported, a small body of evidence supports the ability of ADHD treatments such as MPH and atomoxetine to improve both text reading fluency and comprehension among individuals with ADHD(Parks et al, 2022). These correlations between reading and ADHD suggest the potential for reading to serve as a proxy for the effectiveness of stimulant treatment.…”

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Medical Learners and Physicians and a Potentially Helpful Educational Tool

“…Neuropsychological studies have shown that adults with ADHD exhibit poorer performance on tasks higher in complexity or time requirements, as would characterize the reading of scientific articles containing jargon or concepts needing clarification via looking up of such terminology; 55 moreover, recent studies have suggested impaired reading comprehension abilities in ADHD, with particular difficulty picking out main ideas from material that is read. 56 Fourth, scientific articles are presented, with rare exceptions, in small-font text format with minimal illustrations. Neuropsychological studies have revealed that adults with ADHD struggle with tasks requiring use of verbal memory (responsible for encoding much of information presented in written form), focused attention, sustained attention, and abstract verbal problem solving with working memory.…”