A study by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) looked at how children aged 8 to 12, with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), retell stories. Each child listened to two of Aesop’s fables, one with and one without the illustrated panels from the original tale.
Children with ADHD made more fluency and language errors and produced less complete and coherent accounts. However, the visual aids reduced errors far more sharply in this group than among the other children, who already did well without pictures.
Even with the images, the differences did not disappear entirely, and each child faced different difficulties, so the authors stress that no single intervention works for everyone. According to the institute, ADHD affects around 8% of children worldwide.
The researchers believe the findings could help educators, clinicians and carers identify communication difficulties early and create more supportive learning environments. The work was published in the journal Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.
