Evaluating reading and metacognitive deficits in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The reading achievement of children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has scarcely been explored in research conducted in the Spanish language and when it has, the results have been contradictory. The focus of the present research is to analyze participants' reading competency and metacognitive strategies as they carry out reading comprehension tasks. The sample was comprised of 187 Argentine schoolchildren aged 9 to 13 years old. 94 constituted the control group and the clinical group consisted of 93 schoolchildren diagnosed with ADHD. The metacognitive assessment was made up of two metacognitive tests, the Reading Awareness Scale (ESCOLA; acronym in Spanish) and a Spanish adaptation of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), and one test of reading comprehension, the Evaluation of Reading Processes for Secondary Education Students (PROLEC-SE; acronym in Spanish). Students with ADHD had lower achievement on tests of reading comprehension compared to the control group. Nevertheless, our results suggest their difficulties did not stem from reading comprehension problems, but rather from alterations in their Executive Functions, because when subjects' reading comprehension was equalized, students with ADHD still exhibited a lower level of Metacognition, particularly when it came to planning.