ADHD Students and Classroom Considerations

Organizational Supports for ADHD Students

The states and territories are responsible for providing funding for government subsidised delivery in their jurisdiction and the Commonwealth Government, through the Australian Quality Skills Authority, provides regulation of registered training organisations except in Victoria and Western Australia. A central concept of the VET system is "national recognition", whereby the assessments and awards of any one registered training organisation must be recognised by all others, and the decisions of any VET regulatory authority must be recognised by the all states and territories. This allows national portability of qualifications and units of competency.

Questions about the just distribution of educational opportunity are especially vexing given the scarcity of resources allocated to education. Although developed societies provide some education for free to their citizens, funding for education is always in competition with the need to provide citizens with other social goods. As Amy Gutmann writes: “The price of using education to maximize the life chances of children would be to forego these other social goods” (Gutmann 1999: 129). Other basic welfare needs (e.g., housing, healthcare, food), as well as cultural goods (e.g., museums, parks, concert halls), must be weighed against public funds allocated to education, thereby making high-quality education—even in highly productive societies—scarce to some degree.

School interventions should include a team approach across multiple settings, consisting of both
preventive and intervention strategies.

Interventions must be based upon assessment data that includes information about the student’s strengths and needs as well as the environmental conditions in which her characteristics of ADHD occur.

Primer text from The College of William & Mary

ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed conditions of children (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2015).

In a 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, scientists found that 6.1 million children aged 2-17 years living in the U.S. had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is similar to previous en
Ages 6-11: Approximately 2.4 million children
Ages 12-17: Approximately 3.3 million children

The diagnostic term attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) refers to individuals who display patterns of inattention, impulsivity, and overactive behavior that interfere with daily functioning (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013).


The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) V (APA, 2013) criteria for diagnosing ADHD list
three types of ADHD and the accompanying characteristics.


Predominantly inattentive type.
The student may:
o submit inaccurate or incomplete work,
o have difficulty attending to conversations, activities, or tasks,
o be easily distracted,
o have difficulty following directions,
o frequently lose materials, and/or
o have difficulty organizing tasks and materials.


Predominantly hyperactive/impulsive type.
The student may:
o Appear to be in constant motion,

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 6.4 million children between four and 17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011.

This primer is designed to help you understand ADHD at a deeper level and combat misconceptions.

Fact: An ADHD diagnosis requires observations of numerous symptoms in multiple settings and evidence of significant impairment.

As nations continue to come to terms with coping and finding solutions to the challenges that have beset them with the onslaught of COVID-19, the Alliance for African Partnership has established a public dialogue series with speakers including the Vice Chancellors, researchers and other relevant staff at AAP consortium universities, as well as representatives of the public and private sector, funding partners, think tanks, and NGOs, among others. Partnering with the MSU African Studies Center, the Tanzania Partnership Program, and University World News - Africa, the AAP will host a series of six virtual dialogues throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic covering a variety of topics and themes. All are welcomed to attend these virtual webinars and submit questions for featured panelists.