Whether you’re sharing a funny story told by a friend or recounting the details of a text for a school exam, accurate storytelling and retelling are an integral part of everyday communication and children’s education alike. A new study from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) has found that children aged 8 to 12 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) retell less complete and coherent stories than their neurotypical peers, potentially putting them at a disadvantage in social and educational settings — though visual aids helped narrow that gap.
The findings, published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, pave the way for creating more inclusive learning and social environments for school-aged children. Dr. Hend Samniya from the Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit at OIST, led by Professor Gail Tripp, explains: “Previous research on story retelling has focused on a narrow range of variables, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of its role in communication and learning of children with ADHD.”
Closing the Gap, Not Erasing It
In the study, English-speaking children aged 8 to 12, with and without ADHD, were told two short stories from Aesop’s fables, with and without visual aids. Transcripts of the retellings were then coded by researchers to capture narrative structure, fluency, and linguistic accuracy for each participant.
The researchers found clear differences in narrative ability between children with and without ADHD, and confirmed that visual aids helped participants with ADHD retell stories better, to a much greater extent than their peers — likely because neurotypical children already performed well without visual support. Even with visuals, though, their performance did not match their peers. “It’s important to note that even though we could see the general differences between participant groups, each child experienced the challenges differently,” Samniya says.
ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental condition, affecting an estimated 8% of children and 3% of adults worldwide. While the lived experience of every person with ADHD differs, the condition generally complicates participation in social settings, particularly those with a high expectation of rote performance and repetition — an especially significant issue for school-aged children, whose challenges with ADHD are known to affect learning performance and social relationships in classroom settings. “I hope that our study can help increase awareness about the diverse challenges faced by people with ADHD,” Samniya concludes.
The study, “A Picture is Worth How Many Words? The Impact of Visual Cues on the Story Retelling of Children with and without ADHD,” was published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (DOI: 10.1007/s10802-026-01494-3) and was funded by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University.