School functioning and experience of the school environment by students with ADHD

ABSTRACT

An increasing number of recent studies in the field of special needs education have recognised the importance of factors supporting school preparation and inclusion of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Recent studies have also highlighted the need for further detailed investigation of the lived school experience in clinical samples of ADHD students. Therefore, the goal of this qualitative study was to explore the factors that ADHD students perceived as supportive for their school functioning. The sample consisted of 20 students with ADHD from the Czech Republic, aged 12 to 14 years. Thematic analysis of the interviews with ADHD students revealed the following supportive factors for effective functioning and inclusion of ADHD students at school: parenting style respecting the special needs of ADHD students, close friendship of ADHD students with their peers, openness and warmth of the teachers, practical teachers’ and parents’ interventions tailored to the strengths of ADHD students and ADHD students’ own effort to manage ADHD manifestations at school. Based on these findings, several practical recommendations and implications are formulated.

KEYWORDS:

• ADHD
• students school functioning and inclusion
• supporting factors
• interventions

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all ADHD students who participated in the study, shared their experiences and made this study feasible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The ethical approach of the research was ensured by the approval of the Ethics Committee of Social Health Institute (OUSHI), St. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacky University in Olomouc (2018/01)

Permission note

All material in the manuscript is original content.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2022.2145687

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology of the Palacky University Olomouc internal project Raising awareness of ADHD among social workers (Grant number IGA-CMTF-2022-002).