PREVALENCE & PROBLEMS OF ADHD STUDENTS IN PAKISTAN; A CASE-STUDY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Abstract

Parents and teachers are the stage players in a child’s mental and physical growth including learning progress. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder in which children displays an excessive and unusual amount of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The study was conducted to examine issues and challenges faced by the parents and teachers while teaching and fostering ADHD children in mainstream classes. Particularly, teachers’ understanding of an ADHD child brain functionality and their classroom strategies to counteract those challenges. The researcher used “Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Teacher Rating Scale” to identify and classify ADHD students. Parents and teachers of ADHD students were interviewed through a questionnaire (close-ended & open-ended). In order to determine major issues and challenges faced by the teachers and parents in classroom or at home, two different on-line questionnaires were administered. Teachers & parents were mainly recruited through snowball sampling from all over Pakistan. Mostly private school teachers participated and few government teachers. Many parents (out of 35 only 8 responded) didn’t respond to the questionnaire. Twenty parents of ADHD children were also recruited via WhatsApp/Instagram/Facebook ADHD parents’ groups, total 28 (20+8) parents participated in the study. Major problems forwarded by the teachers were; time management, lack of AV aids, large groups of students, little cooperation from parents and lack of special training. Whereas, parents of ADHD kids were suffering a lot due to their children being bullied and humiliated at school. They complained of teacher’s negligence and urged for special care given to their children. Also, lack of specialized teaching programs and lack of counseling by school authorities. The study also revealed that hundreds of students being diagnosed with severe ADHD, were left untreated, and left out of schools due to improper policies for Inclusive education and ECE programs