Investigating Current Practice: How are Year 2 pupils’ reactions to stories about children with ADHD influenced by the featured teachers’ response to symptoms?

Abstract

This research project, conducted in a Primary School within Essex, explores the influence of teacher actions, in response to the symptoms associated with ADHD in the classroom, upon the reactions of young children towards individuals with ADHD. In this small-scale study of 24 children in Year 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted in groups of 4 on their responses to the children featured in two vignettes. The two vignettes included the identical symptoms of ADHD as the behaviours of the featured child, but varied in the teacher’s response to these symptoms. This allowed the comparison of responses during analysis in attempts to give insight into the social experiences of pupils with ADHD in the classroom and the possible influence of teaching practitioners upon these experiences.