Self‐regulation and comprehension in shared reading: The moderating effects of verbal interactions and E‐book discussion prompts

Abstract The study examined how children's self‐regulation skills measured by the strengths and weaknesses of ADHD symptoms and normal behavior rating are associated with story comprehension and how verbal engagement and e‐book discussion prompts moderate this relation. Children aged 3–7 ( N = 111, 50% female, Chinese as first language) read an interactive Chinese–English bilingual story e‐book with or without discussion prompts twice with their parents (2020–2021). Results demonstrated that the lower children's self‐regulation skills, the more they struggled with story comprehension. Critically, our data suggest that embedding e‐book discussion prompts and more verbalization in English can mitigate this negative association for children with inattention/hyperactivity. These findings have critical implications for future e‐book design, interventions, and home reading practice for children with inattention/hyperactivity and those at risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.