The stories they tell: Story production difficulties of children with ADHD

This study investigated differences in the structure of stories created by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their comparison peers. Children created one story without pictorial cues and one with pictorial cues available. Without cues, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder told fewer stories based on a character's goal than did comparison children. Even those children who constructed goal-based stories told less coherent stories than did comparison children. With pictorial cues and when controlling for expressive language, the two groups of children did not differ in their production of coherent, goal-based stories. These findings indicate that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have difficulties initiating and sustaining goal plans when they are asked to create stories. Suggestions for future academic interventions are discussed.