The Effects of Technology Integration in the Classroom for Students With ADHD

This qualitative case study investigated the influence of technology integration in a special education classroom for students who have ADHD. Technology has shown to have a positive influence on student academic, social, and emotional growth in a general education classroom. This study sought to understand the influence technology has for students struggling with ADHD. This study aimed to understand if technology can play a role in the development of students with ADHD specifically in the domains of academic and social growth. Through observations, interviews, and focus group sessions, six themes were deduced: importance of consistency in using technology, impact of group size, increased interest, increased independence, task initiation/time efficiency using Chromebook, and overall confidence academically and socially.

Promising or problematic? Perceptions of active learning from STEM students with ADHD and specific learning disabilities

STEM instructors are encouraged to adopt active learning in their courses, yet our understanding of how active learning affects different groups of students is still developing. One group often overlooked in higher education research is students with disabilities. Two of the most commonly occurring disabilities on college campuses are attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorders (SLD). We investigated how the incorporation of active-learning practices influences the learning and self-advocacy experiences of students with ADHD and/or SLD (ADHD/SLD) in undergraduate STEM courses. Semi-structured interviews with 25 STEM majors with ADHD/SLD were conducted and data were analyzed using qualitative methods. Most participants perceived themselves to learn best in a STEM course with at least some elements of active learning. Participants described how they perceived active learning to support or hinder their learning and how active learning affected their self-advocacy. Active-learning barriers could be attributed to a combination of instructional factors. These factors included how a particular active-learning practice was implemented within a STEM course and limited awareness of universal design for learning. Defining the supports and barriers perceived by students with ADHD/SLD is a crucial first step in developing more inclusive active-learning STEM courses. Suggestions for research and teaching are provided.

Describing the Experiences of Students with ADHD Learning Science Content with Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies, such as virtual reality, haptics, and 3-dimensionality, provide novel opportunities to allow students to investigate scientific phenomena by fostering perceptions of virtual presence, the feeling of being sensorially immersed and authentically interacting within a computer-generated virtual learning environment (VLE). Neurotypical learners are largely represented in VLE research on science learning, with fewer with neurodivergent learners, such as students with ADHD. This descriptive case study sought to address the dearth in the literature on neurodivergent students’ experiences, with emerging technologies, for learning science. Specifically, the case describes the extent to which neurodivergent learners experience the affordances of VLEs for science learning, as compared to their neurotypical peers, in: zooming, spatially orienting and rotating objects, viewing multiple representations and abstract processes in real-time, as well engaging in risk through multiple trials. Five middle grades students (diagnosed with ADHD) were assessed and observed using a tool (zSpace) that combines emerging technologies to learn cardiac anatomy and physiology. Students’ utterances of virtual presence and technological affordances were coded, and frequency counts and percentages were calculated, both individually and collectively. The results found that students most described sensory (41%), control (30%), and realism (26%) constructs with fewer reports of holding their attention (3%). Analyses of cardiac assessments found gains in scores for spatial rotation and viewing abstract processes, no change in score in viewing multiple representations, and a decrease in scores for spatial orientation. This case study provides unique insight into the needs of neurodivergent learners when using emerging technologies for science learning.

Self-monitoring Intervention of Problem Behavior of Students with ADHD Learning in Regular Classroom in China

The number of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasing in China, whose inattention, disorganization, and impaired hyperactivity cause challenges for their study and teachers’ teaching activities in classroom. The study applied self-monitoring intervention for two children with ADHD learning in a primary school to improve their problem behaviors. We found self-monitoring intervention was likely to reduce their off-task behaviors, even for students with ADHD and ASD. Practical implication of the intervention is discussed in the paper.

COVID-19 Resulted in Lower Grades for Male High School Students and Students With ADHD

Objective: Researchers have speculated that the COVID-19 pandemic may expand the academic performance gap experienced by at-risk students. We examined learning experiences during the 2020 to 2021 school year and the impact the pandemic has had on high school student grade point average (GPA), including predictors of change in GPA from 2019–2020 to 2020–2021. Method: Participants were 238 adolescents (55.5% male), 49.6% with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in the United States. Adolescents reported on their GPAs via online surveys. Results: GPA significantly decreased on average from 2019–2020 to 2020–2021 school year. ADHD status and biological sex significantly moderated change—students with ADHD and male students reported decreased GPA, whereas students without ADHD and female students’ GPA did not change. Low income and Black/Latinx students had lower GPAs in both school years. Conclusion: It is imperative that additional supports be provided for at-risk students to help them catch up on missed learning during the pandemic.

Students with ADHD: Social Skills, Behavioral Problems, Academic Performance, and Family Resources

ADHD constitutes a developmental risk. The general aim was to identify social skills, behavior problems, academic performance and family resources of children with ADHD, with the specific aim being to compare students regarding indicators of ADHD and the use or not of medication. Participants were 43 Elementary Education I students (M=9.6 years, SD=1.5), 43 parents (M=39.1 years, SD=7.6) and 38 teachers (M=43.1 years, SD=8.4). The instruments used were the Inventory of Social Skills, Behavior Problems and Academic Competence (SSRS-BR), Conners’ Scale and the Inventory of Family Resources. The collection was carried out in public schools. The results showed that the students had scores higher than the reference sample in Behavior Problems and Social Skills and lower in classes of social skills and Academic Competence; the presence of family resources; and grades above 5.0 as a school mean. We concluded that there is a need for interventions with the studied population.