Reading Difficulties in Children with ADHD and Dyslexia: The Effectiveness of Balance Activities
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Authors
Donovan, Allison Daniels
Issue Date
2026-05-12
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Speech therapy , Reading instruction , Special education , ADHD , Cerebellum , Dyslexia , Movement , Reading , School-Aged Students , Dissertations, Academic
Alternative Title
Abstract
Comorbid ADHD and dyslexia are prevalent among school age students withattention and reading comprehension impacting academic success. Reading comprehension and attention are skills that many students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia struggle with. While previous studies have investigated physical activity to elicit better attention and reading outcomes, there have not been clear outcomes to improve reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to determine if doing a balance activity before reading a passage and using a visual checklist during a reading passage could result in an increase in accuracy, comprehension, rate, fluency, overall reading abilities, and a decrease in error type. This was an experimental, single subject design study. The study included three elementary aged students, one third grade and two fifth graders, diagnosed with both ADHD and dyslexia. All participants participated in pretest and posttest measures with Form A and Form B, respectively. All three participants demonstrated significant improvement in the posttest measure for comprehension (M = 9.0) from the pretest measure (M = 5.67) and overall reading abilities in the posttest measure (M = 87.33) from the pretest measure (M = 77.33) in a paired samples t-test. While there were no significant improvements were found in paired samples t-test for accuracy, rate, fluency, and error type, results indicated error type did decrease for all participants from the pretest to posttest measure. Implementing a sequenced balance activity before reading and utilizing a visual checklist during reading improves overall comprehension and overall reading abilities demonstrating a potential effective and time efficient intervention for school-aged students.
Description
Citation
Donovan, Allison Daniels. "Reading Difficulties in Children with ADHD and Dyslexia: The Effectiveness of Balance Activities," Ed.D. Diss., Valdosta State University, 2026. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10428/7699
Publisher
License
This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.