Reading comprehension and phonological awareness of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

This paper presents the results of master's degree research that investigated the reading comprehension and phonological awareness of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The sample was made up of fourth grade students who are attending Elementary school in the city of Teutônia, Rio Grande do Sul.Three students with ADHD who were taking medicine supervised by a neurologist were selected. For each student with ADHD were selected three others without the disorder. These students had to be studying in the same classroom. This way, nine subjects belonging to the control group and three subjects of the experimental group answered the tests. Althought the study was based on a qualitative analysis, the results lead to the following general conclusion: students with ADHD may have results as good as their classmates in reading comprehension and phonological awareness tests. The ADHD students only need a “guided activities” and enough time to finish the test, which means they need more time of compared to their other classmates. Futhermore, it is important that the child is under medical supervision in order to verify the need for medically and the appropriate dosage of the medication.