Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has achieved celebrity status in many Western
countries yet despite considerable effort to prove its existence as a «real» disorder ADHD
still suffers from a crisis of legitimacy. Nonetheless diagnosis and prescription of
medication has grown at a phenomenal rate since the late 1980s particularly in Western
culture. Numerous accounts exist explaining how the ADHD diagnosis functions as a convenient
administrative loophole providing schools with a medical explanation for school failure
medication to sedate the «problem» into submission or the means to eject children from
mainstream classrooms. This book provides a more holistic interpretation of how to respond to
children who might otherwise be diagnosed with and medicated for «ADHD» - a diagnosis which
whether scientifically valid or not is unhelpful within the confine of the school. Training
teachers to recognise and identify «ADHD symptoms» or to understand the functions of restricted
pharmaceuticals will only serve to increase the number of children diagnosed and the sale of
psychoactive medications. Research has shown that such activities will not help those children
learn nor will it empower their classroom teachers to take responsibility for teaching such
children well. This book seeks to provide school practitioners with knowledge that is useful
within the educational context to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for children
who might otherwise receive a diagnosis of ADHD.
