Cognitive and academic abilities associated with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a comparison between subtypes in a Greek non-clinical sample

The study assessed cognitive and academic performance of children demonstrating teacher-rated ADHD-related symptoms (Inattention [IA] and/or Hyperactivity/Impulsivity [H/I]) in a representative sample of, largely untreated, Greek elementary school students (N?=?923). A battery of tests assessing short-term memory (STM), sustained attention, executive functions (EFs), reading and math skills were administered. Significant deficits in EFs and STM were restricted to the groups of students displaying inattention symptoms and were only marginally elevated among students showing hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms alone, in comparison to their non-symptomatic peers. A similar pattern of group differences was observed on tests assessing word- and text-level reading skills. Impaired performance on sustained attention tasks was less evident. Among students who manifested inattention symptoms, those who also showed impaired reading skills presented more severe EFs deficits than typically achieving students. Results demonstrated a close link between EFs, other than inhibition and set-shifting, everyday symptoms of inattention, and achievement in math and word-level reading skills.     

A Weak Association between Traits of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Gambling in College Students

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been characterized as a comorbidity to pathological gambling (PG). However, contradictory evidence has emerged, and it has not been established whether nonimpulsive features of ADHD (e.g., inattention, hyperactivity) contribute to PG risk, or how robust this relationship is in college samples. Using data from 224 college students, multiple regression analyses examined the association between ADHD traits and gambling. A marginal link between impulsivity and gambling emerged, but only in males; hyperactivity and inattention were unrelated to gambling. Therefore, caution should be used in attributing risk for PG to college students with ADHD traits, particularly inattention and hyperactivity.     

Preschool twin study of the relation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and prereading skills

Numerous studies have examined the etiology of the association between reading difficulties and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-age children, but little is known about the relation between prereading skills and ADHD behaviors prior to the beginning of formal reading instruction. A population-based sample of 809 pairs of preschool twins completed an extensive battery of prereading measures, and the parent of each twin completed an ADHD rating scale. Phenotypic analyses revealed small but significant correlations between DSM-IV inattention ratings and six prereading composite measures, whereas hyperactivity–impulsivity symptoms were not independently associated with any of the prereading scores. Multivariate twin analyses indicated that virtually all of the phenotypic correlation between inattention and prereading performance is attributable to common genetic influences, consistent with results obtained in studies of older twins. Although additional research is needed to test alternative causal models in children younger than five years old, these results are most consistent with the hypothesis that reading difficulties and inattention symptoms are attributable to common genetic influences.     

Associations between inattention,hyperactivity and pre-reading skills before and after formal reading instruction begins

Concurrent associations between teacher ratings of inattention, hyperactivity and pre-reading skills were examined in 64 pre-schoolers who had not commenced formal reading instruction and 136 school entrants who were in the first weeks of reading instruction. Both samples of children completed measures of pre-reading skills, namely phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid naming, and letter name knowledge, as well as a measure of verbal ability. School entrants also completed measures of letter sound knowledge and beginning word identification skills. Teachers completed rating scales of inattention and hyperactivity. In the preschool sample, teacher-rated inattention and hyperactivity were not correlated with measures of children’s phonological processing but were correlated with letter name knowledge. In comparison, inattention, but not hyperactivity, was independently related to all measures of school entrants’ phonological processing and alphabet knowledge and their knowledge of high frequency words. Structural equation modelling on the school entrant sample revealed that the relationship between inattention and beginning word identification was mediated by pre-reading skills, suggesting that attention problems may compromise reading development during the earliest stages of learning to read through their impact on pre-reading skills. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the consideration of inattention in the design of effective and engaging early childhood learning environments.     

NOTETAKING SKILLS INSTRUCTION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ NOTETAKING PERFORMANCE

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction in notetaking skills on the notetaking performance of seventh‐grade students at different reading ability levels. The students in the notetaking instruction condition (NTI) received classroom‐based notetaking skills instruction (approximately 40 minutes) every week for 10 weeks. The comparison condition students (CNT) were asked to use conventional notetaking (CNT) that was embedded within the daily social studies lessons. The participants’ reading comprehension abilities were identified through the Sentence Verification Technique, which consisted of a 16‐item expository text. A notetaking performance test (NTPT) was used to assess the effect of notetaking skills instruction on two dimensions of the participants’ notes (verbatim copying and terse value). The results demonstrated that the terse value of students’ notes in the NTI condition was significantly better than that of the students in the CNT condition. The students in the NTI condition reduced their percentage of verbatim copying and used fewer words to cover more main concepts in the NTPT that followed the instructional intervention. Surprisingly, the students at low reading ability showed the greatest gains in notetaking performance from verbatim copying to terse notetaking.     

An investigation of the usefulness of the Conner’s Continuous Performance Test II in the assessment of inattention and hyperactivity in the school

The Conners’ Continuous Performance Test (CCPT) is one of the most commonly used laboratory tests in the assessment of inattention and hyperactivity in children. Research suggests that the CCPT II has limited use in the identification of children’s inattention and hyperactivity in the school. Nonetheless, its usefulness to assess school-based inattention and hyperactivity has been examined by using only a small number of its performance measures. The purpose of the present study was to use the whole range of the performance measures included in the CCPT II to assess its potential to detect problems of attention and hyperactivity in the school setting. The CCPT II was administered to a selective sample (n?=?120) of 7-year-old primary school children with elevated rates of behaviour problems and reading difficulty. The Inattention and Hyperactivity subscales of the Conner’s Teacher Rating Scale – 28 (CTRS-28) were used to assess children’s problems of attention and hyperactivity in the school. Correlational analysis showed that the relationship between the CCPT II measures and children’s inattention and hyperactivity was relatively low (r range ?.02 to .38). Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that only three out of the 13 measures included in the CCPT II made a small contribution to the prediction of children’s inattention and hyperactivity scores. Of these measures, only one had not been previously used to examine the suitability of the CCPT II to assess inattention and hyperactivity in the school. The findings suggest that the use of the whole range of the CPPT II measures improves only slightly the tests capacity to identify inattention and hyperactivity in the school.     

Factors Causing Failure in Teaching

Abstract

This study was undertaken to examine two fundamental questions related to the use of graphic organizer instruction with fifth-grade, normal-achieving students: (a) Does graphic organizer instruction facilitate comprehension, recall, and transfer of information contained in an expository textbook? and (b) To what degree is explicit instruction necessary for independent generation and use of graphic organizers by students? In four experimental conditions, participants read social studies information with or without the graphic organizer. The conditions were further separated by the presence or absence of explicit instruction. Participants in the control condition received traditional basal instruction, as prescribed by the teacher's manual of the district-adopted textbook. Participants in all groups performed comparably on acquisition and retention measures. However, when required to read and recall novel social studies content, participants receiving the graphic organizer and explicit instruction performed better on the measure of transfer than students who received traditional basal instruction did.     

Self-report of ADHD symptoms in university students: cross-gender and cross-national prevalence

Little research has examined the structure and prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in university students, including whether symptom structure conforms to the bidimensional (i.e., inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity) conceptualization of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and whether self-reported symptoms vary across gender and country. A sample of 1,209 university students from three countries (Italy, New Zealand, and the United States) completed a 24-item self-report measure (the Young Adult Rating Scale) tapping ADHD symptomatology. Factor analyses within the U.S. and New Zealand samples supported a bidimensional symptom structure, whereas weaker support for this conceptualization was provided by the Italian sample. Participants did not vary significantly by gender in symptom report; however, Italian students reported significantly more inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms than students from the United States, and students from New Zealand reported more inattention symptoms than students from the United States. The prevalence of self-reported ADHD symptoms beyond DSM-IV thresholds for diagnosis ranged from 0% (Italian women) to 8.1% (New Zealand men). The implications of these results for the use of DSM-IV criteria in identifying university students with ADHD are discussed.     

Symptom expression in hyperactive children: an analysis of observations

Hyperactivity is typically diagnosed when children display overactivity, inappropriate inattention, and impulsivity during the school day when involved in tasks that require sustained and voluntary attention. However, distinguishing children with hyperactivity from children with other learning and behavior disorders is often difficult because of an overlap in symptom expression. Some studies have failed to find any factors associated only with the hyperactive syndrome. The present study compared the behavior of students diagnosed as hyperactive or having attention deficit disorder to students diagnosed as having learning disabilities. Symptoms associated with overactivity, inattention, and impulsivity of 19 hyperactive and 17 nonhyperactive (learning disordered) students were observed and counted using a direct diagnostic procedure following a momentary time sampling technique. Analyses revealed that differences between the groups were often qualitative rather than quantitative, and only a few symptoms distinguished one diagnosis from the other. Hyperactive students demonstrated more talking, unsystematic search, and motor impersistence than nonhyperactive students. Nonhyperactive students demonstrated more upper extremity movement and displayed more inattention when engaged in visual tasks than hyperactive students. The findings questioned the use of general categories of behavior such as overactivity to discriminate hyperactive from nonhyperactive students. Implications for diagnosis and the need for continued studies are reviewed.     

Eye-movement modeling of integrative reading of an illustrated text: Effects on processing and learning

Integrative processing of verbal and graphical information is crucial when students read an illustrated text to learn from it. This study examines the potential of a novel approach to support the processing of text and graphics. We used eye movement modeling example (EMME) in the school context to model students' integrative processes of verbal and pictorial information by replaying a model's gazes while reading an illustrated text on a topic different from that of the learning episode. Forty-two 7th graders were randomly assigned to an experimental (EMME) or a control condition (No-EMME) and were asked to read an illustrated science text about the food chain. Online measures of text processing and offline measures of reading outcomes were used. Eye-movement indices indicated that students in the EMME condition showed more integrative processing than students in the No-EMME condition. They also performed better than the latter in the verbal and graphical recall, and in the transfer task. Finally, the relationship between the duration of reprocessing the graphical segments while rereading the correspondent verbal segments and transfer performance was stronger in the EMME condition, after controlling for the individual differences of prior knowledge, reading comprehension, and achievement in science. Overall, the findings suggest the potential of eye-tracking methodology as an instruction tool.     

Using portfolios: a way to improve performance and self-esteem with poor readers?

The main questions answered by the intervention of using portfolios during reading and spelling lessons were: do poor readers in the intervention condition perform better and do they show a higher self-esteem than poor readers in the control condition? A post-hoc design was used to compare an intervention group with a control group. The independent variable was using portfolios as part of reading and spelling instruction. The dependent variables were literacy skills, conceptual knowledge on reading and writing, and self-esteem. Intelligence score was used as a covariable. The study included 92 students from grade 3 (six to seven-year-olds) from two schools providing regular education. The results on the quantitative measurements indicated that using portfolios did not improve performance with reading and spelling and self-esteem. The qualitative findings with respect to the 14 poor readers of the participating subjects revealed that their reading performance and self-esteem decreased further in both conditions. It is argued that teachers should explicitly use portfolios as a way to evaluate and discuss performance with poor readers so as to better understand the student's level of instruction and feelings of competence, and actually apply that knowledge during instruction.     

Does Inattention and Hyperactivity Moderate the Relation Between Speed of Processing and Language Skills?

The causal role of speed of processing (SOP) in developmental language disorder (DLD) is unclear given that SOP has been implicated in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This study investigated associations between SOP, language, and inattention/hyperactivity in a U.K. epidemiological cohort (N = 528). Monolingual children from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds were assessed longitudinally; at ages 5–6 (2012/2013) and 7–8 years (2014/2015). Persistent weaknesses in SOP characterized children with DLD but did not predict language longitudinally. Ratings of inattention/hyperactivity moderated the association between SOP and language, indicating that SOP deficits are particularly detrimental for language when coupled with poor attention/hyperactivity. SOP may be a shared risk factor for DLD and inattention/hyperactivity or a general marker of neurodevelopmental disorder.     

The Collaboration of Cooperative Learning and Conceptual Change: Enhancing the Students’ Understanding of Chemical Bonding Concepts

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction on ninth-grade students’ understanding in chemical bonding concepts compared to traditional instruction. Seventy-two ninth-grade students from two intact chemistry classes taught by the same teacher in a public high school participated in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as the experimental and control group. The control group (N?=?35) was taught by traditional instruction while the experimental group (N?=?37) was taught cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction. Chemical Bonding Concept Test (CBCT) was used as pre- and post-test to define students’ understanding of chemical bonding concepts. After treatment, students’ interviews were conducted to observe more information about their responses. Moreover, students from experimental groups were interviewed to obtain information about students’ perceptions on cooperative work experiences. The results from ANCOVA showed that cooperative learning based on conceptual change approach instruction led to better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding concepts than traditional instruction. Interview results demonstrated that the students in the experimental group had better understanding and fewer misconceptions in chemical bonding concepts than those in the control group. Moreover, interviews about treatment indicated that this treatment helped students’ learning and increased their learning motivation and their social skills.     

The internal restlessness scale: performance of college students with and without ADHD

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was previously believed to be a disorder of childhood, with symptoms attenuating at the onset of puberty. Follow-up studies, however, suggest that the majority of children with ADHD continue to manifest symptoms into adulthood. Although the inattention components associated with ADHD persist into adulthood, the nature of the hyperactivity component is less well understood. For example, according to criteria established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, hyperactivity in adolescents and adults may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness. Recent studies with adults with ADHD have also reported that mental restlessness is commonly reported by individuals with the disorder. To better understand this characteristic of ADHD, the Internal Restlessness Scale (IRS) was developed. The results of the IRS suggest that (a) college students with ADHD report significantly higher ratings of internal restlessness than college students without ADHD, and (b) the IRS appears to have adequate test-retest reliability and a four-factor structure. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Integrating self-regulation in whole-class reciprocal teaching: A moderator–mediator analysis of incremental effects on fifth graders’ reading comprehension

In this classroom intervention study, reciprocal teaching (RT) of reading strategies was combined with explicit instruction in self-regulated learning (SRL) to promote the reading comprehension of fifth-grade students (N = 306). Twelve intact classes were randomly assigned either to an RT + SRL condition or to an RT condition without explicit instruction in self-regulation. Three additional classes served as a no-treatment comparison group. Strategies instruction was delivered by trained assistants in conventional German language lessons. Students practiced the application of these strategies in small groups. Both at posttest and at maintenance (8 weeks after the intervention), students in the two intervention conditions (RT and RT + SRL) outperformed comparison students in measures of reading comprehension, strategy-related task performance, and self-efficacy for reading. Relative to RT students, students in the RT + SRL condition were better able to maintain training-induced performance gains over the follow-up interval. A moderated mediation analysis revealed that this difference in the sustainability of the two treatments was (a) mediated by the successful mastery of the learned strategies and (b) most evident among students with poor reading fluency skills.     

The relative responsiveness of concrete operational seventh grade and college students to science instruction

Numerous persons have suggested that instruction should match the developmental level of the learner. Are “concrete operational” college students developmentally the same as “concrete operational” seventh grade students thus in need of identical instruction? Matched concrete operational seventh grade and college students were given identical classroom instruction in probabilistic and correlational reasoning. The college students performed significantly better on posttest measures which appeared to require greater processing of information while significant differences did not exist on less difficult items. Level of cognitive development, field independence, and fluid intelligence correlated moderately with posttest performance for the seventh grade students. Field independence and fluid intelligence correlated moderately with posttest performance for the college students but not pretest knowledge of specific biological concepts and cognitive level. It was concluded that college students are more responsive to instruction due either to (1) greater amount of experience or (2) greater information processing capacity. Implications for science teaching are discussed.     

The Reflection-Informed Learning and Instruction to Improve Students’ Academic Success in Undergraduate Classrooms

Abstract

This study addressed the role of the reflection-informed learning and instruction (RILI) model on students’ academic success by using CourseMIRROR mobile system. We hypothesized that prompting students to reflect on confusing concepts stimulates their self-monitoring activities according to which students are expected to review their understanding, search for related knowledge, and try to identify the confusing concepts. With this student-reflection information, instructors can thus address students’ difficulties effectively, which can lead to enhanced academic success. We tested our hypothesis by conducting a semester-long quasi-experimental study in undergraduate industrial engineering classes (N?=?153). The analyses revealed that students in the RILI condition performed significantly better than students in the control condition (Cohen’s d = .82). In addition, reflection analysis showed that both quality and quantity of reflections were significantly associated with exam performance. Surveys indicated users highly valued the RIFI model; they rated CourseMIRROR favorably and said they would continue to use it in future classes.     

Accurately detecting students’ lies regarding relational aggression by correctional instructions

This study investigates the effect of correctional instructions when detecting lies about relational aggression. Based on models from the field of social psychology, we predict that correctional instruction will lead to a less pronounced lie bias and to more accurate lie detection. Seventy-five teachers received videotapes of students’ true denial messages (e.g., students were innocent) and untrue denial messages (students were involved in relational aggression). A random half of the teachers were either given no further instructions or were told not to use stereotypical non-verbal cues when forming judgements (correctional instruction condition). As predicted, teachers in the correctional instruction condition were slightly better at detecting true than invented stories.     

Teaching Writing to Students With Attention Deficit Disorders and Specific Language Impairment

Abstract

The self-regulated strategy development approach to instruction was used to help 3 middle school students who had learning problems, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific language impairment, learn a strategy for planning and writing expository essays. The composition strategy helped students to consider their topic in advance and to use text structure knowledge to develop 5-paragraph essays. Regular education teachers provided instruction to the target students in inclusive classrooms; special education teachers facilitated the writing program. A multiple-probe design across students (R. D. Horner & D. M. Baer, 1978) was used to assess the effects of the strategy. Instruction had a positive effect on the students' approach to writing and overall writing performance. Four weeks following instruction, students' papers remained improved and were still longer and more complete.