Parent-Child Joint Picture-Book Reading Among Children With ADHD

Objective: Children with AD/HD exhibit two disparate areas of difficulty: disrupted interactions with parents and significant problems in story comprehension. This study links these two difficulties by examining parent-child joint picture-book reading to determine whether there were diagnostic group differences in parent and child storytelling. Method: Parents of 25 children with ADHD and 39 comparison children (mean age = 7.5 years) told their children a story based on a wordless picture-book, and children then retold the story to an examiner from memory. Results: Parents in both groups told stories of similar length and complexity and demonstrated similar affective and responsive quality. The length of the child's retell of the parent's story did not differ across groups but children with ADHD included fewer goal-based events. Conclusions: Results are discussed in terms of implications for enhancing the quality and frequency of parent-child storytelling among children with ADHD. (J. of Att. Dis. 2009; 12(4) 361-371)