Graduate Program

School Psychology

Degree Name

Specialist in School Psychology

Semester of Degree Completion

2003

Thesis Director

J. Michael Havey

Abstract

ADHD continues to be a common diagnosis of school children, and according to the DSM-IV, it affects approximately 3-5% of the population. Teachers are often the primary source of information regarding ADHD diagnoses in school children. A previous study by Glass and Wegar (2000) found that teachers were over-identifying children with ADHD and that medication was preferred as the primary treatment for these students. This study further examines teacher perceptions on the causes, incidence, and appropriate treatment methods of ADHD. In addition, this study also examines the prevalence of ADHD as determined by the ADHD Rating Scale-IV (School Version) (DuPaul et al., 1998), and determines if it carries biases towards gender or ethnicity. Results show that teachers are still over-identifying children with ADHD when compared to expected prevalence rates by the DSM-IV. Out of 121 rating scales analyzed, 23.97 percent were identified by teachers as meeting criteria for one of the three types of ADHD. Males had significantly higher scores than females and Whites had significantly higher scores than Hispanics. In conclusion, more research needs to be conducted on developing culturally appropriate rating scales for ADHD as well as making changes in the DSM-IV to reflect the growing incidence rates of ADHD.

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