Syftet med studien var att genom intervjuer med specialpedagoger, belysa och analysera svårigheter och möjligheter som specialpedagoger på grundskolor återger när de berättar om sitt arbete med elever med diagnosen ADHD. Syftet var även att belysa och analysera hur specialpedagoger beskriver skolans samspel med vårdnadshavare. Studien utgår från en hermeneutisk forskningstradition och materialet grundas på semistruktuerade intervjuer. Dessa gjordes med fyra specialpedagoger som arbetar på fyra olika kommunala grundskolor i årskurs ett till nio i två olika kommuner.  I resultatet framgår det att samverkan mellan skola och vårdnadshavre är grundläggande för elever med diagnosen ADHD. Samspelet mellan skola och vårdnadshavare utökar struktur för barnet, vilket underlättar vardagen för elever. En slutsats som framkommer av studien är diagnosens betydelse i skola, för eleven och för vårdnadshavare.  Specialpedagogerna anser att diagnosen inte är betydande gällande insatserna i skolan, men underlättar arbetet med eleven och ger förståelse genom att en diagnos sätts. Diagnosens betydelse är individuell och varierande för elever och vårdnadshavare och kan vara bland det viktigaste till det oviktigaste.  Diagnosens betydelse för skolan beskrivs bland annat som ett hjälpmedel i arbetet med elever med diagnosen ADHD. Tolkning av resultatet har utgått från Bronfrenbrenners ekologiska modell. Utifrån tolkning av resultat visar det att påverkan och samspel föreligger i skolans arbete med elever med ADHD. Det är viktigt att ta hänsyn till alla nivåer i Bronfenbrenners ekologiska modell för att kunna beskriva problemet. Dessa olika nivåer, mikro, meso, makro och exo, samverkar med varandra, vilket framkommer i resultatet i denna studie.

O Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH) é caracterizado por sintomas de desatenção, hiperatividade e impulsividade. Surge na infância e pode persistir ao longo da vida, podendo ocasionar dificuldades pessoal, acadêmica, familiar, social e profissional. Este trabalho objetivou compreender os sentidos e os significados para os pais ou responsáveis por adolescentes com TDAH acerca do transtorno e as respectivas relações que esses adolescentes estabelecem no convívio familiar ou fora deste. Para tanto foi realizado um estudo qualitativo com uso da história oral temática. Participaram do estudo 9 pais dos adolescentes com TDAH atendidos no Ambulatório de Psiquiatria Juvenil de um hospital público universitário do interior do Estado de São Paulo. A entrevista temática foi realizada no domicílio dos participantes. A análise das narrativas permitiu construir quatro unidades temáticas: \"Sentidos e significados acerca do TDAH\"; \" Compreensão dos pais sobre o diagnóstico e tratamento do TDAH\"; \"Conflitos no convívio familiar\"; \"Conflitos no contexto da escola e da comunidade\". Os pais percebem que tanto eles como os profissionais das escolas apresentam dificuldades ao lidar com o adolescente portador do TDAH. Reconhecem que desde a infância seus filhos manifestam comportamentos diferentes de outras crianças. Referiram falta de conhecimento, informação e orientações sobre o universo desse transtorno. Diante dessas dificuldades os pais adotaram práticas educativas negativas. Apresentaram preocupações com a discriminação sofrida pelos adolescentes. As relações sociais e familiares estabelecidas com os adolescentes portadores do TDAH podem ser caracterizadas por constantes conflitos. Os atos de violência identificados foram de natureza física e psicológica. A comunicação entre áreas, setores, profissionais e família demonstra-se prejudicada, problemática que se reflete nas relações sociais estabelecidas com os adolescentes com TDAH. É necessário oferecer suporte e orientações aos pais com a participação conjunta de profissionais da saúde e da educação. As abordagens devem ser constantemente avaliadas no sentido de aperfeiçoá-las e adequá-las, acompanhando as diferentes fases do desenvolvimento dos jovens / Disorder Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. It appears in childhood and can persist throughout life leading to personal, academic, family, social and professional difficulties. This study aimed to understand the senses and meanings relating to parents of adolescents with ADHD about the disorder and the relationships these adolescents establish in and out family life. A qualitative study was conducted with the use of thematic oral history. The study included nine parents of adolescents with ADHD in the Outpatient Psychiatric Trainee of a public hospital in the state of São Paulo. The thematic interview was conducted at the participants\' residences. The analysis of the narratives allowed building four thematic units: \"Senses and meanings about ADHD\"; \"Parents ´understanding about the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD\"; \"Conflicts in family environment \"; \"Conflicts in the context of school and community.\" Parents realize that both they and school professionals have difficulties in dealing with adolescents with ADHD. They acknowledged that since their childhood, children manifest different behaviors compared to others. They mentioned lack of knowledge, information and guidance relating the universe of this disorder. Considering these difficulties parents have adopted negative educational practices. They showed concerns about the discrimination faced by the adolescents. Social and family relations established with adolescents with ADHD can be characterized by constant conflict. The acts of violence identified were of physical and psychological nature. The communication between areas, sectors, professionals and family is impaired, which is reflected in problematic social relationships with adolescents with ADHD. It is vital to offer support and guidance to parents with joint participation of health and education professionals. The approaches must be constantly evaluated in order to achieve improvement and adaptation, with close attention to the different stages of the youngsters\' development

O Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH) é o transtorno psiquiátrico mais comum em crianças e adolescentes, com prevalência de 6%. O TDAH classifica-se nos subtipos desatento (TDAHD), hiperativo (TDAHH) ou combinado (TDAHC). Suas manifestações incluem problemas de cognição, comportamentais, afetivos e sociais. Distúrbios de memória e atenção são problemas cognitivos freqüentes. A memória de curta e longa duração foi avaliada em 44 sujeitos portadores do TDAH por subtipos, (TDAHD, n=17; TDAHH, n=11 ;TDHAC, n=16; idade: 12,8 anos; escolaridade: 6,1 a) e 43 indivíduos não portadores que constituíram o grupo controle (idade: 12,11 anos; escolaridade: 6,4 a). Os escores foram a média de evocações corretas em um experimento desenvolvido para este estudo. 64 figuras distribuídas em 4 apresentações com 16 figuras cada constituíram a avaliação de memória (MEMO). As apresentações para recordação imediata e tardia: memória categorizável agrupada, memória não-categorizável seriada, memória não-categorizável agrupada. Inteligência e atenção também foram analisadas. Os resultados mostraram os grupo TDAHH e TDAHC tiveram um pior desempenho na memória de longa duração categorizável e não categorizável na apresentação seriada; os três grupos com TDAH tiveram desempenho inferior ao grupo controle com figuras categorizáveis e não-categorizáveis agrupadas, com maior efeito para TDAHD e TDAHC. Os resultados indicam prejuízo de memória de longa e curta duração no TDAH independente da contribuição de estratégias de memória. / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common psychiatric disorder among children and teenagers, with a prevalence of 6%. ADHD disorder has three subtypes: inattentive (ADHDI), hyperactive (ADHDH) and combined (ADHDC). The symptoms include cognitive, behavioral, affective, and social disturbances. Memory and attention deficits are the cognitive problems that frequently attend this disorder. Long and short-term memory were assessed in 44 children and teenagers with ADHD (ADHDD, n=17; ADADH, n=11 ;ADHDC, n=16; age: 12,8 y; 6,1 years of education) and 44 healthy participants (Control group, age: 12,11; 6,4 years of education). An experiment was developed to investigate memory (MEMO). The experiment consisted of 64 figures in 4 different presentations. Each presentation had 16 figures designed to measure immediate and delayed recall in four conditions: serial categorizable memory, grouped categorizable memory, serial non-categorizable memory, and grouped non-categorizable memory. Intelligence and attention were also assessed. The recall of ADHDD and ADHDC groups was worse in the categorizable and non-categorizable serial conditions; the performance of all three ADHD groups was worse than that of the control group with respect to the two grouped conditions, but ADHDD and ADHDC were the worst. These results suggest memory deficit for long and short-term memory on ADHD independent of memory strategies contribution.

This paper describes an evaluation of the effectiveness of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) as an individual parent training model. BST effects on parent responses to child behavior, and by extension, child problem behavior was investigated. The parent participants in the study had children under the age of 10 years old with diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder. The researcher conducted observations in situ and via video transmission. Implications of the study include the ability to effectively apply an intervention for parents in situations where the therapist cannot physically come to the parent’s home as well as the effectiveness of using BST to teach general problem behavior management to caregivers. The results presented suggest that behavioral skills training as a parent training method is effective for increasing appropriate parent behavior, but results are mixed for its immediate impact on child problem behavior. Keywords: attention deficit disorder, autism spectrum disorder, behavioral skills training, parent training, problem behavior

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo (Turfloop Campus), 2005 / The aim of this study was to establish whether children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity show deficits in cognitive impulsiveness and motor functions, caused by a hypofunctioning dopamine system. A group of 84 primary school children, 42 classified as ADHD and 42 controls, matched for age, gender and SES, with children without ADHD symptomatology, were compared on their performance on neuropsychological tests which test the functions of the cortical areas supplied by two dopamine branches, the meso-cortical and nigrostriatal branches. The battery consisted of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Grooved Pegboard, and the Maze Coordination Task. The results of the tests were analysed as a function of gender and ADHD-subtypes. In the majority of tests the clinical groups performed worse than the control groups. This was the case for both genders. The Hyperactive/Impulsive and Combined subtypes consistently performed poorer than the other groups. The results indicate that children with ADHD are more impulsive (deficient executive functions) and have poorer motor control than their control counterparts, which may be an indication of dopamine dysfunction.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Current theories of ADHD cite evidence from neuropsychological and brain imaging studies suggesting that abnormalities in the structure and function of the frontal lobes and connected brain regions are associated with impaired behavioural inhibition, constituting the primary deficit in ADHD. While most reviewers conclude that neuropsychological studies have failed to find specific deficits in various aspects of attention in ADHD, poor performance on attentional tasks, including the continuous performance task (CPT), is a common finding and previous electrophysiological studies suggest evidence of impaired attentional processing. This study aimed to investigate the cortical activity associated with attentional processes in children with and without ADHD, using steady-state probe topography (SSPT). Seventeen boys diagnosed with ADHD and seventeen age matched control boys participated. Changes in the amplitude and latency of the steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) associated with correct responses to targets in the �X� and �AX� versions of the CPT were examined. At critical time points in both tasks, the control group demonstrated SSVEP changes suggesting increased activation and increased speed of neural processing. These effects occurred predominantly in medial frontal, right prefrontal, right parietal and occipital regions, suggesting enhanced activity in regions previously shown to be involved in attentional processes. The ADHD group demonstrated much smaller increases in activation and processing speed in frontal regions and predominantly reduced activation and slower processing in parieto-occipital regions. Group differences suggesting reduced activity in the ADHD group were observed in response to the presentation of both cues and targets, as well as in the intervals leading up to target presentation, especially in the cued CPT-AX. These results suggest that processing of task relevant stimuli as well as preparatory and motor processes may be associated with dysfunctional activation of brain networks of attention in ADHD, involving deficits in both frontal and parietal cortical regions. These regions may also be involved in the maintenance of information required for correct task performance and the results also suggest possible deficits in these processes in ADHD. The findings are consistent with others of reduced activation and cognitive deficits in ADHD involving these brain regions and networks, and with the idea that ADHD may be associated with a diminished ability to regulate levels of arousal and activation appropriate to task demands.

<p>Persons suffering from Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle with complications within the functions that regulate and control the brain activities, due to deficiencies in these functions within the affected nerve-paths. ADHD is a cognitive function impairment characterised by inattention, impulsiveness and over activity. According to Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), certain diagnostic criteria of ADHD must be fulfilled in order for a person to be diagnosed with ADHD. The everyday problems caused by ADHD are individual and medication can have positive effects relieving the person’s impairing behaviour. The study is based on scientific literature, three quantitative scientific articles and preview material from the last study by Johnson, Fransson, Kadesjö & Gillberg, presently being scrutinised. Swedish as well as English literature has been used. The purpose of this study is to shed some light upon whether medication facilitates the child’s school situation. The result deals with the ADHD diagnosis and pharmacological therapy involving drugs that stimulate the central nervous system, as well as naturopathic medicine like Omega-3/6. The pedagogical aspect for children with ADHD in school has been observed and evaluated. In this matter it is important for the pedagogue to encourage the child by letting it find out that it can manage more than it thinks.</p>

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Arthur Anastopoulos; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-84).

Persons suffering from Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle with complications within the functions that regulate and control the brain activities, due to deficiencies in these functions within the affected nerve-paths. ADHD is a cognitive function impairment characterised by inattention, impulsiveness and over activity. According to Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV), certain diagnostic criteria of ADHD must be fulfilled in order for a person to be diagnosed with ADHD. The everyday problems caused by ADHD are individual and medication can have positive effects relieving the person’s impairing behaviour. The study is based on scientific literature, three quantitative scientific articles and preview material from the last study by Johnson, Fransson, Kadesjö &amp; Gillberg, presently being scrutinised. Swedish as well as English literature has been used. The purpose of this study is to shed some light upon whether medication facilitates the child’s school situation. The result deals with the ADHD diagnosis and pharmacological therapy involving drugs that stimulate the central nervous system, as well as naturopathic medicine like Omega-3/6. The pedagogical aspect for children with ADHD in school has been observed and evaluated. In this matter it is important for the pedagogue to encourage the child by letting it find out that it can manage more than it thinks.