Oral narrative structure and coherence of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Mariana Pereira Zenaro,Ana Luiza Decanini Miranda De Souza,Natalia Freitas Rossi,Célia Maria Giacheti

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20192018197

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize and compare the use of typical story grammar elements and global coherence level in the oral narrative of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with the narrative of children without the disorder and with typical development. A total of 40 children of both sexes aged 5 to 10 years who attended elementary school participated in the study, 20 of whom were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD Group), and 20 with typical development (TD Group). Participants from each group were similar in sex, chronological age, schooling and socioeconomic status. The wordless picture book Frog, Where Are You? was used to elicit the oral narrative analyzed for the presence of the main typical elements of the story schema (character, theme/topic, event/plot and outcome), and afterwards their narration was classified according to four different levels of organization corresponding to the global story coherence level. The ADHD Group presented lower scores on the structural elements "theme/ topic" and "outcome" and a narrative with lower degree of coherence compared to the TD Group. The children with ADHD included in this study presented difficulties to use typical story grammar elements, mainly related to the maintenance of the central theme and outcome of the story. These elements are considered fundamental for construction of narrative coherence, which justifies the lower levels of global coherence found in the oral narrative of the ADHD Group.

Highlights

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects approximately 5% of children in different cultures and can persist in adulthood in approximately 2.5% of cases, which impacts on the social, academic and professional functioning and development of the individual[1].The ADHD diagnostic criteria established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)(1) are based on the frequency and time since the onset of symptoms, including, among the main criteria, the existence of persistent patterns of lack of attention and/or hyperactivity-impulsiveness during the six months preceding presentation or beginning before 12 years old.Language, motor or social impairments are among the developmental disabilities considered comorbidities of ADHD
It was observed that the instances of level 2 found in the TD Group corresponded to younger children
Regarding classification of the global coherence level, a statistically significant difference was found between the ADHD and TD groups (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects approximately 5% of children in different cultures and can persist in adulthood in approximately 2.5% of cases, which impacts on the social, academic and professional functioning and development of the individual[1].The ADHD diagnostic criteria established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)(1) are based on the frequency and time since the onset of symptoms, including, among the main criteria, the existence of persistent patterns of lack of attention and/or hyperactivity-impulsiveness during the six months preceding presentation or beginning before 12 years old.Language, motor or social impairments are among the developmental disabilities considered comorbidities of ADHD. Language impairments are not part of ADHD diagnostic criteria, it is common for parents to report that their children have undergone speech-language intervention at preschool age, as well as interventions due to academic difficulties at school age[2]. On this topic, there is no doubt that in the field of studies on the developmental trajectory of individuals with ADHD, performance in academic and cognitive skills underlying the reading and writing learning process has been systematically investigated, both in the national and international scientific scenario, as the review study showed[3]. There is little research on the performance of spoken language of individuals with ADHD, difficulties both at the receptive and expressive level have been described in this clinical group[4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion