Ascertaining teachers’ perceptions of working with adolescents diagnosed with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

There are few studies that have directly examined teachers’ perceptions of children with ADHD, particularly children in the adolescent age range. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of general‐education ninth through twelfth grade teachers regarding working with adolescent students with ADHD. Sorted responses from a sample of 100 general‐education high school teachers were analysed and then represented visually using a concept‐mapping technique. The final concept map suggests that teachers perceive adolescents with ADHD along two dichotomies of thematic clusters on an orthogonal axis. Clusters at the top area of the concept map suggest perceptions related to high confidence and willingness, while clusters at the bottom suggest perceptions related to uneasiness and frustration. Clusters along the left side of the concept map suggest perceptions related to behaviour issues, while clusters along the right side suggest perceptions related to classroom teaching issues. Central to the vertical and horizontal dichotomies is a solitary central dimension, which highlights training as an important component of teachers’ perceptions of adolescents with ADHD.

Keywords:

• attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder
• adolescents
• teachers’ perceptions