Shaw, R., & Lewis, V. (2005). The impact of computer-mediated and traditional academic task presentation on the performance and behaviour of children with ADHD . Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs , 5 (2), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1471-3802.2005.00041.x

The accommodation under examination was "computer-mediated presentation" which included two conditions: typing responses on a computer screen, and typing responses with an animated character presenting the written items. The comparison conditions were paper-and-pencil responses without animated character, and paper-and-pencil responses with animated character presentation.

Twenty (20) students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 20 peers without disabilities, from a school in the United Kingdom participated. Students with ADHD ranged in age from 7 to 12, and their peers without disabilities ranged in age from 7 to 9.

The dependent variable was performance on 10 science items in a multiple-choice format. Students from both participant groups were also scored on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence (WASI, 1999) and the British Ability Scales II Word Reading Card (1996) in order to follow a matched-pairs research design.

The results indicated that students with ADHD improved in correct responses when completing tasks in the computerized format without animated presentation. However, students with ADHD did not demonstrate higher scores (in comparison to regular pencil-and-paper) either in the pencil-and-paper response and animated presentation or in the computerized response and animated presentation condition. In comparison, students without disabilities displayed relatively similar score results across all four conditions. Additionally, based on observations of on-task behavior during the test, students with ADHD persisted in on-task behavior longest under the computerized response and animated presentation condition, and second-longest under the computerized response without animated presentation condition. In comparison, students without disabilities demonstrated relatively similar on-task behaviors in all four conditions.