A substantial percentage of students with ADHD symptoms severe enough to affect them both academically and socially are not getting support in school for the disorder, says a study of nearly 2,500 children and youth.
Parents of children who had been diagnosed with ADHD by a physician were asked in 2014 to describe their childrens’ symptoms and what interventions, if any, they were getting.
Sixty-nine percent of parents said their children were receiving one or more school services related to their ADHD, which might include enrollment in special education, tutoring, extra help from a teacher, preferential seating, or extra time to complete work. About a third said their children received “classroom management” interventions, such as a reward system or a daily report card.
But that left a notable percentage of students with impairing symptoms getting no interventions, said lead author George DuPaul, a professor of school psychology and the associate dean for research in the college of education at Lehigh University.
