Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the neurodevelopmental complications that affect many children around the world. The disorder is characterized by challenges such as slow development, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and the lack of concentration. ADHD may start at the early stages of life and continue throughout the life of a person (Fleming et al., 2017). In the recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people suffering from the disorder. Recent investigations have shown that the prevalence of the condition may vary from 5.9% and 7.1%. Furthermore, research shows that the disorder is more prevalent among males compared to the females. It is also worth stating that the prevalence of the disorder may vary from one nation to the other. People who have been diagnosed with ADHD tend to face difficulties in various areas of life. One of the areas that researchers have focused on is the performance of such students in school.
Previous studies have been done to examine how ADHD affect schooling among children. In those students, the focus is on comparing the educational outcome of children with ADHD with their counterparts who do not have the disease. Fleming et al. (2017), for instance, conducted a study to explore the educational outcomes among the children who had been diagnosed with ADHD. The researchers collected data from a Scottish administrative database. The data collected during the research show that the children who had ADHD had poor educational outcomes. In particular, these individuals were likely to leave school at an early age, perform poorly in exams, and struggle to master concepts that were being taught in class. In addition, the students had greater special needs compared to their normal counterparts in school. Available research evidence further suggest that the academic performance of students can also be affected by ADHD (Baweja et al., 2015). Children who suffer from the disorder tend to have poor academic performance. In the end, they face a higher risk of unemployment in comparison to those who do not have the disorder. The problem can be linked to factors such as long school absenteeism and inability to master the information that is being taught in class. It is also important to state that the link between ADHD and school performance is a complex one since it may be affected by other variables such as comorbid conditions, socio-economic status, and parental level of education. These confounding factors should be taken into account when examining how ADHD may influence the performance of learners.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
School personnel such as teachers are usually the first people to detect signs of ADHD among students. Research shows that after identifying students who may be having ADHD, teachers may develop some degree of insecurity in dealing with them (Te Meerman et al., 2017). The teachers fear working with the students because of the mental and behavioral issues that the learners may face because of the condition. In some cases, educators become hesitant when asked to take responsibility for students who have special needs, including those who have been diagnosed with ADHD. When the teachers are not ready to work with such children and assist them in class, learners struggle to master the concepts that are taught in class. In other cases, the students may take a long time to master what other students have already mastered. In the end, the learners will struggle to achieve their full academic potential. Moreover, they may record poor academic results compared to their peers who may not have the disorder.
While exploring the link between ADHD and schooling, researchers have also explored how the diagnosis of the disease may actually affect the wellbeing and performance of students. The diagnosis of the disease means that the students will have to seek some kind of special school services (Jangmo et al., 2019). Whether the diagnosis is mild or serious, the acknowledgement of ADHD tends to lower parent and teacher expectations of the students. In other words, the teachers will expect the students to perform poorly compared to those who do not have the disorder. Such views are usually self-fulfilling especially when the teachers do not take proactive measures to assist students. In other cases, the poor performance may be caused by factors such as low self-esteem, self-stigma, and counter-effective focus on some traits linked to ADHD (Peasgood et al., 2016). As the teachers leave the students on their own, the learners will continue struggling with the adverse effects and symptoms of ADHD. There are those who may engage in high-risk behaviors while other struggle to relate with their peers. In some cases, the students are at a high risk of engaging in bullying or being bullied themselves. These factors together with the neurogenic and biological changes that occur in the victim’s body lead to adverse outcomes. Furthermore, the trend can result in poor academic performance among the students.
In conclusion, ADHD is a major complication that affects many people around the world. The disorder affects normal development and can cause negative behavioral tendencies. From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that ADHD diagnosis can be linked to poor academic performance among students. The trend may be linked to a wide range of factors such as the negative symptoms of the disease, lack of support from parents, and stereotyping.
References
Baweja, R., Mattison, R. E., & Waxmonsky, J. G. (2015). Impact of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder on school performance: What are the effects of medication? Pediatric Drugs , 17 (6), 459–477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40272-015-0144- 2
Fleming, M., Fitton, C.A., & Steiner, F.C. (2017). Educational and health outcomes of children treated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. JAMA Pediatr. , 171(7), e170691. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.0691
Jangmo, A., Stålhandske, A., Chang, Z., Chen, Q., Almqvist, C., Feldman, I., Bulik, C. M., Lichtenstein, P., D'Onofrio, B., Kuja-Halkola, R., & Larsson, H. (2019). Attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder, school performance, and effect of medication. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 58 (4), 423–432.
Peasgood, T., Bhardwaj, A., Biggs, K., Brazier, J. E., Coghill, D., Cooper, C. L., Daley, D., De Silva, C., Harpin, V., Hodgkins, P., Nadkarni, A., Setyawan, J., & Sonuga-Barke, E. J. (2016). The impact of ADHD on the health and well-being of ADHD children and their siblings. European child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 25 (11), 1217–1231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0841-6
Te Meerman, S., Batstra, L., Grietens, H., & Frances, A. (2017). ADHD: a critical update for educational professionals. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being , 12 (sup1), 1298267. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2017.1298267
