ADHD as a classroom diagnosis. An exploratory study of teachers’ strategies for addressing ‘ADHD classroom behaviour’

This study scrutinizes strategies that teachers deploy when confronted by behaviour related to the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Over two years, ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in two inclusive classrooms in Denmark, and all instances of teacher initiatives addressing ADHD-related classroom behaviour were recorded. Six basic strategies recurred across teachers and classrooms. To maintain the instructional flow with the rest of the students and not continually stop, the strategy of ignoring the disruptive conduct of a diagnosed child is often used. This strategy has not previously been explored in classroom research on ADHD. This is probably because previous research has primarily focused on the singular child and the singular teacher, thus leaving the whole-class interplay and complex orientations of teachers unexplored.