Writing Characteristics of Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder: A Meta‐Analysis

Abstract

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) frequently experience significant difficulty mastering basic academic skills. This meta-analysis focuses on one specific potential area of learning difficulties for these students: namely, writing. To identify the extent and depth of the potential writing challenges faced by students with ADHD, we conducted a meta-analysis comparing the writing performance of grade 1 to 12 students with ADHD to their normally achieving peers. We located 44 papers, yielding 45 studies with 87 effect sizes. The average weighted effect sizes showed that students with ADHD obtained lower scores than their normally achieving peers for writing quality (-0.78), output (-0.64), number of genre elements (-0.69), vocabulary (-0.76), spelling (-0.80), and handwriting (-0.62). Contrary to expectations, moderator analyses found that neither study quality nor the source from which ADHD students were drawn (i.e., school/community vs. clinic/hospital) accounted for variability above sampling error alone.

Metacognitive interventions in text production and working memory in students with ADHD

“…Deficits in different WM components associated with ADHD (Martinussen, Hogg-Johnson, & Tannock, 2005) and poor performance in various writing skills (Graham, Fishman, Reid, & Hebert, 2016;Alloway, Gathercole, Kirkwood, & Elliott, 2009), as well as the relation between cognitive and metacognitive processes involved in text production and WM (Olive, 2012;Olive, Kellog, & Piolat, 2008;Berninger et al, 1996), should be considered when planning an intervention.…”

Role of Neurocognitive Factors in Academic Fluency for Children and Adults With Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele

“…Processing speed (which can be operationalized along a continuum from simple reaction time [RT] measures to complex generative or decision-making tasks) is an important determinant of all three forms of academic fluency (Camarata & Woodcock, 2006;DeBono et al, 2012;Schatschneider, Fletcher, Francis, Carlson, & Foorman, 2004). Behavioral inattention is also related to academic fluency outcomes (Fuchs et al, 2011;Graham, Fishman, Reid, & Hebert, 2016) presumably because careless mistakes, lack of engagement, and distractibility can all reduce efficiency on such timed tasks. Such shared neurocognitive deficits across academic outcomes are consistent with multiple deficit models of childhood disorders (McGrath et al, 2011;Pennington, 2006;Shanahan, Pennington, & Willcutt, 2008).…”

Computerised Handwriting Speed Test System (CHSTS): Validation of a handwriting assessment for Chinese secondary students

“…For the convergent validity analysis, the positive associations between handwriting and sensorimotor performance including fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills, visual‐motor integration and oculomotor proficiency (Klein et al ., ) were investigated. For the discriminant validity analysis, students with SEN, who were always identified to have handwriting problems (Graham et al ., ; Kushki et al ., ), were differentiated from typically developing students based on their handwriting performance.…”

“…Handwriting is a complex process involving language use, cognitive skill, sensorimotor performance and other biomechanical ergonomic factors related to a person (Klein, Guiltner, Sollereder & Cui, ). Handwriting deficits among students with special educational needs (SEN) have been widely studied in the literature (Graham, Fishman, Reid & Hebert, ; Kushki, Chau & Anagnostou, ). It is estimated that 10 to 30% of typically developing school‐age children also suffer from handwriting difficulties, and its influence could have considerable impact throughout their academic lives (Karlsdottir & Stefansson, ).…”