" If school was only four months long, I would have a very good average"
Subtitle: understanding the school experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders
By: by Lesley Anne Daniels.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
ISBN-13: 9780494218747
Subjects: Attention-deficit disorder in adolescence.; Teenagers with disabilities -- Education.; Teenagers with disabilities -- Social conditions.; Teenagers with disabilities -- Atttitudes.; High school students -- Social conditions.; High school students -- Attitudes.; Education, Secondary.
Other titles: Understanding the school experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder; School experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder
Description: Despite heightened awareness and study of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in recent decades, there have been no published accounts of the school experiences of students with ADHD from their perspective. This research provides the first qualitative study of the "lived" school experience of students with ADHD. Twelve adolescents with ADHD participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews addressing major aspects of school life. Working from a modified grounded theory framework (in which theory is developed from the rich data collected), interviews were coded and three themes emerged: (1) support for a "performance deficit" (i.e., although these students know what they need to do to be successful in high school, they generally don't do it); (2) academic and social engagement (i.e., due, in part, to their difficult academic and social histories, they struggle to remain engaged in these areas); and (3) moving from dependence to independence (i.e., as parents are "backing off" and high school teachers demand more autonomy, these students are required to become independent learners). What is most striking, with respect to each of these themes, is the low level of agency demonstrated by the students; that is, rather than  acting with purpose on their environments, they seem to "float along",  reacting as things "happen" to them. A number of factors (e.g., poor endurance, good intentions, self-perceptions as lazy, fear of failure) are offered to account for this pattern of behaviour. These findings suggest it is crucial that students with ADHD receive ongoing teacher, parent and peer accountability to support academic and social success. This research has critically important implications for the educational system, in particular, in terms of how it might address those variables most likely to result in a "good fit" between students with ADHD and their teachers, treatments and school environment.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-01, Section: A, page: 0144.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-216).

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.