PEER-MEDIATED ACADEMIC INTERVENTION OF ADHD

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This is a proposal for a 2-year project designed to evaluate the effects of two peer-mediated interventions on the academic achievement of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Sixteen children with clinically diagnosed ADHD between the ages of 7 and 11 years old and a similar number of their classmates will participate in the investigation. Two interventions will be implemented in their regular education classrooms to enhance acquisition of academic skills and increase independent work productivity. During active intervention conditions, children with ADHD will receive daily tutoring in their weakest academic subject (i.e., reading, math, or spelling) from one of their classmates. In addition to peer tutoring, during two of the intervention conditions, a classmate will monitor each target child's attention to and completion of independent seatwork in the same academic subject area. A within-subject reversal design will be employed such that each participant's academic performance will be evaluated during both baseline control (e.g., traditional teacher-mediated instruction) and active intervention conditions. Several dependent measures will be collected on a daily basis including observations of ADHD-related behavior during instruction and classwork, curriculum-based measurement probes, and academic productivity measures. In addition, teacher and self-esteem ratings will be completed during each experimental phase. Performance on teacher-made tests of achievement will be evaluated weekly throughout the study. Consumer satisfaction ratings will be completed by the teacher, target student, and peer tutor at the conclusion of the study. The frequent collection of dependent measures over time will allow analysis of obtained results at both the single-subject (time series analysis) and group (multivariate analysis of variance) levels. It is hypothesized that peer tutoring will lead to clinically significant improvements in academic accuracy and achievement among children with ADHD. Further, the combination of peer tutoring and monitoring is hypothesized to significantly enhance the on-task behavior and academic productivity of target children during independent seatwork. Peer-mediated interventions could represent a cost- and time-effective method to improve the academic achievement of children with ADHD within regular education classrooms.