Attention and written expression in school-age, high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders.
High-functioning kids with autism plus strong ADHD symptoms write stories that are shorter and more disorganized than peers with autism alone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers compared writing samples from three groups of school-age kids. One group had high-functioning autism. One had high-functioning autism plus strong ADHD symptoms. One group was typically developing.
Kids wrote a story from a picture prompt. The team counted words and rated theme strength and organization.
What they found
Both autism groups wrote shorter stories than typical peers. The autism-plus-ADHD group had the weakest themes and poorest organization. More ADHD symptoms meant lower writing quality, even when autism traits stayed the same.
How this fits with other research
Halstead et al. (2018) pooled many studies and found the same pattern. Students with autism consistently score lower on length, spelling, and overall structure. The new data fit right inside that bigger picture.
Faso et al. (2016) showed that ADHD alone hurts writing organization. Miranda et al. (2013) followed those kids into adulthood and found the deficits stuck around. The current study bridges the two lines. It shows the double hit starts early when both conditions overlap.
Berenguer et al. (2018) used the same three-group design but tested executive function instead of writing. They also saw additive problems when ADHD rode along with autism. Together the papers map a clear "extra load" profile you can spot in late-elementary kids.
Why it matters
If a client has HFASD, check for ADHD symptoms before you plan writing goals. Kids with both need extra supports for organization, not just grammar or handwriting. Break the prompt into parts, provide visual planners, and reinforce staying on topic. These steps close the gap that the study uncovered.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
High-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders often find writing challenging. These writing difficulties may be specific to autism spectrum disorder or to a more general clinical effect of attention disturbance, as these children are often comorbid for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology (and children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder often also find writing challenging). To examine this issue, this study investigated the role of attention disturbance on writing in 155 school-age children across four diagnostic groups: high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) with lower ADHD symptoms (HFASD-L), HFASD with higher ADHD symptoms (HFASD-H), ADHD symptoms but no autism spectrum disorder symptoms, and typical development. Both HFASD subgroups and the ADHD group displayed lower word production writing scores than the typical development group, but the clinical groups did not differ. The HFASD-H and ADHD groups had significantly lower theme development and text organization writing scores than the typical development group, but the HFASD-L and typical development groups were not significantly different. The findings support prior research reporting writing problems in children with autism spectrum disorder but also suggest that children with HFASD-H may be at greater risk for writing difficulties than children with HFASD-L. Better understanding the role of attention in writing development could advance methods for assessment and intervention for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder at risk for writing difficulties.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361316675121