Abstract
Students with attentional deficits are better able to maintain attention to tasks if novelty is added, especially during later trials. In this study, we assessed generality to a standardized reading test when noninformational color was added to one of two altemate forms, counterbalanced for order of condition and form. Participants were 25 third- to fifth-grade students with and without attentional deficits. Students with attentional deficits: (a) read as accurately as their classmates with color added (during a first test administration and across sessions), (b) read worse in the black-white condition, and (c) improved reading accuracy during the second test administration with color added (i.e., all other groups showed a decline in performance). Because the noninformational color did not change test difficulty (i.e., by altering the discriminability of task-relevant features), the implications of these findings may be more accurate assessment of the performance of students with attentional deficits.
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