| A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) literacy intervention for behaviorally disordered adolescents, some of whom had comorbid Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study also examined the extent to which the presence of comorbid ADHD affected the adolescents' ability to benefit from the instruction.; Participants were 63 adolescent boys (aged 13-16) who attended a residential treatment center. Thirty-two had a behavioral disorder (BD), and 31 were diagnosed as having both a behavior disorder and ADHD (BD+ADHD). The BD-only and the BD+ADHD adolescents were assigned either to the literacy intervention or a literacy practice activity that served as a comparison condition. The literacy intervention was an adaptation of an SRSD procedure, "TWA," originally reported by Mason (2004). TWA consisted of nine reading comprehension steps to complete before reading, while reading, and after reading. Participants in the literacy practice condition wrote summaries and completed multiple-choice tests. The subject matter of science was used in both conditions, and the major outcome investigated was the participants' ability to write a summary of an expository science text. Participants' ability to write a summary of a text on a different subject matter (Near Transfer), compose a summary from two expository sources (Far Transfer), and maintain the written summarization skills after three weeks was also assessed.; The data were analyzed using a repeated measures split-plot analysis of covariance. The two most important findings were that: (1) the TWA intervention appeared effective in improving participants' ability to write a summary of an expository text, and (2) a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD did not negatively affect a participant's ability to benefit from the intervention, although students with BD+ADHD were less successful in generalizing and maintaining the benefits of the literacy intervention than their BD-only peers.; The study demonstrated a useful intervention for enhancing literacy skills in BD youth, a population known to struggle academically. Furthermore, the study added insight into the relationship between BD, ADHD, and academic underachievement by demonstrating specific circumstances in which a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD hindered performance. |
