Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms: Do the Software and the Instruction Method Affect Their Behavior?

The study investigated the effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use on pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Nine Greek primary school pupils with ADHD symptoms and four others with no such deficit worked on a computer, either individually or collaboratively, once a week for a six-week period. The pupils worked on a series of activities especially developed for the study, with educational software and ICT environments of different types and features. It was found that specific characteristics of the educational software used by the pupils with ADHD symptoms stimulated their attention more than others did. Pupils with ADHD symptoms appeared to prefer reading short texts, watching short videos, and listening to short narration items when they work on the computer. Furthermore, significant differences were observed on those pupils' behavior and performance in learning tasks between individual and collaborative work. ********** The development of software applications that will meet the needs of pupils with various kinds of disabilities is a matter which appears to be compulsory today due to the necessity for universal access to information and communications services and for the development of software environments accessible to all (Shneiderman, 2000; Keates, Clarkson, & Robinson, 2002). Page (2002) referred to the positive effect that computers can have on "non-traditional" pupils, meaning all those who have been labeled as being learning disabled, low achieving, educationally disadvantaged, and so forth (p. 392). One of these groups of pupils at-risk for behavioral and academic problems is the group of children who exhibit attention deficit and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) syndrome is a diagnostic category used to describe individuals who display developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, impulsivity, and/or overactivity (DuPaul, Power, Anastopoulos, & Reid, 1998). It is a lifelong neurobiologically-based developmental disability which is estimated to affect 2-9.5% of the school age population, based on research evidence world-wide, with boys outnumbering girls at about a 2:1 to 5:1 ratio (Fowler, 1994; Barkley, 1998). Research evidence in Greece estimated that 12.4% of elementary school pupils exhibit ADHD symptoms (Zournatzis, Kakouros, Karamba, Papaeliou, & Badikian, 2001). According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (America Psychometric Association, 1994), the main symptoms of the syndrome are three: 1. Inattention. Individuals who have inattention problems display difficulties in focusing on a task, are easily distracted by extraneous stimuli, exhibit problems in organizing and completing their homework, often loose things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g., books, pencils), and so forth. 2. Hyperactivity. Hyperactive individuals have difficulty in remaining seated while being in the classroom, are often fidgety and talk excessively, run about or climb in situations in which it is inappropriate, and so forth. 3. Impulsivity. Impulsive individuals act before thinking, have difficulty in waiting turn, often interrupt or intrude on others, blurt out answers before questions have been completed, and so forth. The DSM-IV categorizes these symptoms into three subtypes of the disorder: (a) predominantly inattentive, (b) predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, and (c) combination of the two types. For a child to be diagnosed as having ADHD, these symptoms must be present in the child's behavior before age seven and must persist for at least six months in two or more settings (at school and at home) (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). …