Industry leaders in improving attention. |
|
For more information call (800) 788 - 6786 or request
a |
Teacher Knowledge of ADHD
Teachers vary dramatically in their ability to work effectively with students who have ADHD. Some teachers are extremely knowledgeable about ADHD, the special difficulties it creates for children, and effective strategies for helping children with ADHD succeed. Many other teachers, however, are severely lacking in this important knowledge. As a result, children with ADHD often fail to receive the assistance they need to be successful in school, which is a tremendous source of frustration to children and parents alike. For this reason, documenting the knowledge and understanding that teachers have about ADHD is an important task, as a systematic examination of the gaps in this knowledge can hopefully promote more routine training in these areas for teaching professionals.
The extent of teachers' knowledge of ADHD and effective strategies for helping children with ADHD succeed were examined in a recently published study in the Journal of Attention Disorders (Frank, E.A. et al., 4, 91-101, 2000). Although the results from the study are based on a relatively small sample of teachers (21 teachers from 3 different communities), they still highlight major gaps in teacher knowledge of ADHD and identify challenges that the education profession needs to address.
All but one of the teachers in this study taught elementary school children. The majority worked in grades K-3. Teachers were interviewed about a child in their classroom who exhibited inattention, distractibility, and/or hyperactivity in order to learn about the special efforts they made to help students with these characteristics.
It is important to note that these students were not specifically labeled as having ADHD, as researchers were interested in the explanations that teachers provided for this type of behavior. However, all children were displaying behaviors that were strongly consistent with an ADHD diagnosis, and the majority was diagnosed with ADHD by the conclusion of the study.
Specific topics that were covered in the interviews included:
- 1) attributions the teacher made for the child’s behavior;
- 2) strategies used by the teacher to manage the child;
- 3) other school or community resources that were available to support the child;
- 4) and the teacher’s opinion of strategies and resources that would help the child.
After this initial interview was completed, teachers were given feedback about the results and interviewed again. During the second interview, they were asked more directly about their familiarity with ADHD symptoms and treatment options.
Results
There is a wealth of qualitative data that the researchers gleaned from the summary of the teacher interviews. Below are some especially interesting results.
Teachers infrequently attributed the child’s behavior to ADHD.
Although concerns are frequently raised that teachers are too quick to label a child with behavioral difficulties as having ADHD, such concerns were not supported by the results of this investigation. In fact, only 6 teachers mentioned ADHD as a possible explanation for the symptoms the child was displaying, despite the fact that the children were highly symptomatic. Several teachers said that the child they were asked about could not be ADHD because he was not highly disruptive. This indicates a lack of awareness that some children with ADHD are highly inattentive and do not show hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. This may contribute to the under-identification of many children with the inattentive subtype of ADHD, and the failure of these children to obtain the assistance and services they require to succeed.
Teachers often suggested alternative explanations for children’s symptoms that were environmentally based.
When asked why they failed to mention ADHD as a possible explanation for children’s symptoms, a variety of explanations were provided. The majority of teachers offered environmentally based explanations, including: a disruptive family environment, lack of discipline, single parenthood, overprotective mothers, lack of parental support for the child’s education, and neglect.
Although the factors listed above can contribute to behavioral and academic difficulties, the majority of children whom teachers were interviewed about had confirmed diagnoses of ADHD. For children with ADHD, such environmental factors should have already been ruled out as a primary determinant of their symptoms. It is striking that these findings suggest that teachers may be prone to unreasonably implicate "poor parenting" as a chief causal factor in the difficulties experienced by a child with ADHD.
Teachers also noted that "labeling" a child does not help solve problems, and were reluctant to suggest ADHD as a possible explanation for the child’s difficulties for that reason.
Teacher strategies for classroom management
Teachers reported a variety of strategies for managing the behavior of disruptive students, including behavioral interventions such as point systems to promote desired behavior, instructional modifications (one-on-one instruction; the use of peers as tutors), and environmental modifications (preferential seating). Most teachers described the use of multiple strategies that cut across these different categories.
Although this sounds positive, the authors indicate that most teachers did not have a consistent and coherent plan of action for dealing with disruptive and inattentive students. The types of behavioral interventions that teachers frequently described were not expected to have a positive impact on many children with ADHD. There were a variety of reasons for this, including: inconsistent implementation, the absence of frequent feedback (frequent feedback is generally required on their behavior and ability to meet short-term goals), and failing to identify appropriate behaviors to try and modify. Teachers also seemed to have a strong preference for management strategies that did not require very much of their time.
Summary And Conclusions
This study presents a combination of encouraging and discouraging news. On the positive side, there was no indication that teachers are overly prone to label children with ADHD. Thus, these data do not support the notion that ADHD is the first explanation that teachers assume when a child in their class is struggling.
On the other hand, the majority of children these teachers were asked about had in fact been diagnosed with ADHD, and teachers rarely mentioned this as an explanation for the child's problems. This was the case even when teachers were aware that the child had already been diagnosed. Instead, teachers frequently noted environmental causes that tended to focus on a specific parenting problem. This suggests that teachers may erroneously blame parents for difficulties that a student with ADHD is experiencing. It also suggests that teachers may fail to take an active role in helping to identify students with ADHD who could benefit from appropriate evaluation and intervention services.
Another concerning finding was the relative lack of knowledge of appropriate behavioral interventions and other classroom strategies to help facilitate the success of students with ADHD. As a result, teachers were attempting interventions that were unlikely to succeed.
These findings need to be considered cautiously because they are based on a relatively small sample of teachers. However, they underscore the need for a larger-scale version of this study so that a more complete understanding of these important issues can be obtained. In all likelihood, results from such a study would underscore the need for increased training and education of teachers on identifying students requiring a comprehensive ADHD evaluation, and how to develop and implement classroom-based interventions that are effective in helping students with ADHD succeed. It would be wonderful if such training was implemented routinely in school systems across the country.
Note: This article originally appeared in Attention Research Update, an online newsletter written by Dr. David Rabiner, a Duke University psychologist and former member of CHADD's Professional Advisory Board. You can learn more about Attention Research Update and sign up for a free subscription at www.helpforadd.com.