Talking themselves through tasks eased ADHD signs in teen boys
Who it’s about: ADHD, Children, People with a health condition
- Helped
Boys who learned to talk themselves through tasks had fewer attention problems, by teacher ratings, than boys who got nothing.
Small randomised trial of 30 teenage boys with ADHD in Iran · vs boys who got no training · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable; summary claims more than the results show
The study
Who took part
30 boys aged 12 to 18 with ADHD and higher than usual levels of putting things off. They came from two clinics in Tabriz, Iran.
What they did
One group had 8 sessions where a therapist first talked them through tasks out loud. Step by step, the boys learned to guide themselves, first out loud and then silently in their heads. The other group got nothing.
What happened
Teachers rated the trained boys as having fewer attention problems and less restless behaviour at the end and three months later. The boys' scores for putting things off went the wrong way after training, so the claimed benefit there can't be confirmed. Parts of the paper are garbled and its numbers don't add up.
Source
Investigating the Effectiveness of Verbal Self-education Training on Academic Procrastination and Symptoms of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adolescent Boys With Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (2023)
DOI: 10.32598/jpcp.11.2.851.1 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action
Talk yourself through the taskGuide yourself through each step of a task with spoken, then silent, self-instructions.
