The Relationship between Articulation Speed and Academic Achievement in Children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Open Access
Author:
Lloyd, Anna Maria
Area of Honors:
Psychology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Cynthia L Huang Pollock, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Jeffrey M Love, Honors Advisor
Keywords:
ADHD Articulation Speed Academic Achievement
Abstract:
Objective: Previous research has been conducted that looks at ADHD and how it affects
both articulation speed and overall academic achievement, separately. However, the purpose of
this study is to examine the relationship that articulation speed has on academic achievement for
those with and without ADHD. Methods: A sample of 223 children, 70 with ADHD and 153
controls, were administered academic achievement tasks of reading, spelling, and math. The
participants also performed an articulation speed task where they were asked to repeat a
sequence of letters and/or numbers as quickly and as accurately as they could following an
auditory start tone. Results: The participants with ADHD showed to have lower academic
achievement scores in comparison to their control counterparts. Additionally, there were no
significant group differences in overall articulation speed in regards to preparatory interval and
speech rate. Although, both speech rate and preparatory interval were negatively correlated with
math and reading while speech rate was uniquely correlated with spelling. Conclusion: The
results suggest that because the articulation speed for those with ADHD were no longer/slower
than for those without ADHD, it is not reasonable to infer that articulation speed affects
academic achievement. However, the status of ADHD has a major effect on academic
achievement, which could account for the relationship that has been identified by the results.
