Gamification and word recognition skills of pupils’ with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Calabar municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Gamification on Word Recognition Skills of pupils with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Calabar Municipality. To achieve this purpose, two research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study employed the quasi-experimental research design using pre-test-post-test non-randomized control group design. The population of the study comprised 104 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity primary one pupils in the 23 public schools in Calabar Municipality. A sample size of 47 ADHD pupils in three intact classes were used in the study. Three public primary schools in Calabar Municipality were randomly sampled using Cap and Draw method and all the ADHD pupils in the three schools participated in the study. Adapted Attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnostic checklist, Pupils performance test on Word Recognition Activity Test (WRAT) and Instructional (treatment) package on Go-Fish Game were the instruments used for data collection. The instruments was subjected to face and content validation by three specialists and yielded a reliability Co-efficient of .86. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering research questions while Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed significant difference in academic performance of ADHD pupils taught picture clues with the help of Go-Fish Game. The reading game was found to be more effective in improving ADHD pupils’ word recognition skills. There was no significant difference in word recognition skills given their cognitive ability levels. Some recommendations were made to include that teachers should embrace the 21^st century skills by effectively using diverse instructional language games to stimulate the desire to learn among pupils with ADHD so as to conquer their academic deficiencies and challenges.