LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITIES IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT ...

198 Pages·2001·11.25 MB·English

LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITIES IN CHILDREN WITH
ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER AND
LANGUAGE BIPAIRMENT
Alison Jean bic1nncs
A thesis submirtcd in confurmity with the requircments
fur thc degrce of Ph.D.
Dcpartment of Human Development and Applied Psycholo_ey
Thé Ontario Institute for Studies in Eductition
of the University of Toronto
O Copyright by Nison Jean Mcuines. 200 1
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Listeninp Comprehension Abilities in Children with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder and Languagc Im painnt
Alison Jean Mctnnes. Ph-D., 200 1
Human Development and Appiied Psychology
Ontario Institutc for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
A bstract
Attention Deticit Hyper;ictivity Disordcr (ADHD) and Language Impairment (LI)
arc two çomrnon devclopmentai disorders that have Far-reaching effects on children's
acüdcmic success and devehpment of soçid skills. Although ADHD and LI frcqucndy CO-
ocçur. rclativcly littlc is known about specific pattcms of LI iissociated with ADHD. This
study soupht to examine language çompreliension abilities at thc discwrse level in children
with ADHD and LI. both donc and in combination. It was hypothesized that children with
ADHD would havc more diffiçulty than normal childrcn in çomprehcnding lcss explicit
infmnation (Le.. making infcrences) and monitoring their own comprchension during
çhdlcnping listcning tasks involvins pusÿes in thc expository gcnrc. and that children with
çomhincd ADHD+LI would show poorer comprehcnsion abilitics thm childrcn with LI
aiune. Anothcr objective wüs to examinc vcrbd and spatial working memory abilities in
childrcn with ADHD luid LI. and détermine whether these skills rue usociated with
listening cornprehension.
Standardized mcuures were used to clÿssify participants into an ADHD (no LI)
croup. lin ADHD+LI group. an LI group. and n Normal control group. Children completed
C
two novcl listening comprehension tasks designrd to assess 1) comprehension of hcts and
inferences in expository passages. and 2) the ability to detect mors in sequence or in tictual
consistency. Results showed that the two LI groups had the most difficulty with listening
comprehension. dthough contrary to expectations. performance of children with combined
dctïcits (ADHD+LI) w u not worse thm that of children with LI alone on the two listening
comprehension ilisks. Children with ADHD (no LI) were poorer thnn normal children at
reneriiting inferences and monitoring comprehension oI spoken expository passages, despite
L
ç«mpanible ability to comprehend tàctç. Children widi ADHD. ADHD+LI. and LI showed
significrintly poorer vcrbal md spatial working memory skills compared with normal
childrcn. Spatial rncmory span was dso dcficicnt in thesi: childrcn. however verbal rncmory
span w u i mpaircd only in thc two LI proups. not in the ADHD group. Re~rcssiona nalyses
sugptcd diat both vcrbal and spatiiil working mcmory prediçtcd a significant amount of
the variance in listcniq comprehension perfommcc. Rcsulü arc discusscd with respect to
thcorctiçül. clinicd. and educatimd implications.
iii
Acknowledgments
1 would first like to acknowledge the ongoing suppon. input. and encouragement
of my cornmittee: To Drs. Rosernary Tannock and Tom Humphries for their expertise in
clinical research and their willinpess to guide me in a new ares of research. to Dr. Cu01
Musselman for her help ruly in the prqjrct. to Dr. Sheilah Hogg-Johnson for her
invaluable contnbuhon the design and analysis process. and to Dr. Dale Willows. who
prwided both an objective and 'Ilevil's advocate" voice. Thanks dso to Dr. Andy
Biemillcr for his assistance with the vocitbulary analyses of the expenrnental measures,
and to Karcn Ghelani for hcr assis~nccin the inter-rater reliability procedures.
1 owc a specific debt of gratitude to Roscmary Tannock. who hüs hclpcd me make
the transition (rom çlinician to clinician-rcseucher. for hcr unîlagging suppon luid
cncouragemcnt of rnc during pursuit of this long-time goal. And to hcr reseluch group at
the Hospital for Sick Children. who have provided both support and opportunitics for
çontinued leaming during complction of this thesis.
Thünks go also t» Dr. E. Porter. Pdiatrician. and to the administrators and
terichers of the Bluewatcr District School Boud who tàcilitatcd rccmitmcnt of
participants. Sincere apprcciation is also extended to the çhildren luid parents who
willingly gave their time and effort in this resecuch.
Findly. 1 want to thank my fÿmily for their continued patience. support. and
encouragement durinz this process. It is to them especidly that this work is dedicated.

Speçific Hypotheses ............................................................. -37
2 Method
2.1 Participants ........................................................................... .40
Recruiting Proccdures ............................................................ 40
2.2 Measurcs and Procedurcs ........................................................ ..AL
Classiticririon Mcasurcs .......................................................... 42
Group Classi ticlition Pr«ccdures ............................................... -47
Dcscripiive Meÿsurcs ........................................................... A9
Dcpendent kleasurcs ............................................................. 51
Testing Proccdures ...............................................................6 2
Parcnt Fécdback Prr~ccdurc.s. ................................................... 64
Scoring Rcliability Pr«ccdures. ................................................ .64
7.3 Stlitistical Andyscs ..................................................................6. 6
3 Results
3.1 Samplc Charüctcristics. ............................................................. 68
3.7 Analyses of Classification and Descriptive Meÿsurcs ...........................7 2
Review of Frequency Distributions ....................................... 72
ADHD Mcasurc .............................................................. 72
Language Measures ......................................................... 73
Descriptive Meüsures .................................................... 74
3.3 Andyses of Dependent Mesures. ................................................ 76
Rrview of Frequency Distributions ........................................ 76
Listrning Cumprehensicin Mwsures ....................................... 76
1 . Expository Püssage Comprehension Tasks ..................... 76
..
Andysis for Pÿssqc El tcct ...................................... 76
Anlilysis 01' Expository Passage Comprehensim Scores ..... -77
2 . Error Dctection Tuks ............................................ -78
Andysis for Ellecis of RD and Non-vcrbd Cognitive Scores im
Listcning Comprehension ..........................................8 1
Rohustness of Listening Comprchcnsi«n bleuures ......................8 2
Verbal and Spatial Span and Workinp Mcmory bI.lc~surcs. ...........- 82
Corrclations ................................................................... 84
Rcgrcssiun And yscs ......................................................... S7
1 Discussion
3.1 Ovcrvicw of Rcsults ................................................................. 93
4.2 Expcrimcntd Listcning Comprchensiim Tuks and
Methodoloy ........................................................................ -95
4.3 Listcning Comprchensiiin For Expusitory Püssüpcs .............................. Y6
4.4 Cornprehension Monitoring ...................................................... 100
4.5 Memory Span and Working Memory Abilitics ................................. IO4
4.6 Listening Cornprchension and Working Memory .............................. 107
Processes Associated with Infercncing ....................................... 108
4.7 Thcoreticd Implications ........................................................... 112
4.8 Clinicd Implications ................................................................ II4
4.9 Educational Implications .......................................................... 119
vii
O Limitations of this Study. ............... . ... ... ...... .. . .. .... ...... .. .... ... .... 122
Appendices
Appendix A Parcnt and Tcachcr Ratings rc: Oppositional Dcliant Disorder
and Anxic ty .. . . . . . . .. . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. .. . . . . . .. .. . . .. .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . 140
Appendix B Expository Passage Comprehension Tuk: Administration.
Measures. and Scoring .. . . . .. . . . .. .. .. . . .. . . . .. . .. .. . . . . .. . . .. .. .. . . . . . 142
Appcndix C Error Dctcctiim Tlisks: Mministratioii. Mcuurcs. and
Scoring.. .. . .. . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. .. . .. . . .. 162
Appcndix D Listcning Comprehcnsion Püssagc Charaçtcristics . .. . . . .. .. . . . . ... 167
Appcndix E Summary of Pilot Data Ior Listcning Ci~mprchcnsion
!bIc;~,surc.s.. ...................................... . . . .............. 168
viii
List of Tables
Table Page
Summary of kleuures.. ............................................................... ..50
Samplc Chwactenstics: Age. SES. History of Chrrmic OME. Prescncc of
ODD. and Anxicty (Puent .P and Telicher - T). RD. ADHD Subrypcs.. ..... .70
Clusilication Meuures for ADHD: Group Meiins and Standard Dcviations
of Puent (P) and Teacher(T) Ratings of ADHD Symptoms from the
Connrrs Raring Sccrlrs-R.. .......................................................... 73
Classification Mcuurcs for Language 1rnp;Umcnt: Group Means and
Standard Dwiations of Scores cm thc PPVT-III. EVT. and CELF-3.. .......... 75
Descriptive Mcuurcs: Grwp Mcans and Standard Deviations of Scores
on Blwk Dcsign (WISC-III) and Word Attack (WRkIT-R).. ....................7 6
Group Means and Standard Dcviatiiins of Total Sçorcs li~Cr omprchcnsion
Faca. In fercnccs. and Tmc/Falsc Inîkrcnccs on Püssagc
tif
Comprchension Ttisk.. .................................................................. 78
t
Group Mcans and Standard Dcviatiiins tiir Tula1 Scores on Error Dctcction
Task 1 - Listèning to Instructions .................................................. 80
Group Means and Standard Dcviatiiins for Total Scores on Error Dctection
Tuk 2 - Listcning to descriptions .................................................. 80
Planned Contrasts for Error Dcttxtion Tasiis ......................................... -81
Group Meüns and Standard Dcviations for Verbal and Spatial Span and
Working Memory Mcrisurcs ...........................................................- 33
Zero Order Corrclations hctween CELF-3 Subtcsts and Vcrbal and Spatid
Spün and Workin- Mcmory Mcÿsures ................................................. 85
Zero Order Corrclations between Stluidiirdizcd Liinguagc Scores and
Lisrcning Comprehension Scores .....................................................- 86
Zero Order Corrclations between Listening Comprchension and Working
Memory Scores .......................................................................... .8 7