Experts from all over the world take a critical, highly international and often controversial perspective on the ADHD phenomenon – a condition that has reached global proportions, significantly affecting the lives of children, parents and teachers worldwide. This book raises a number of concerns often not covered by the material currently available to parents and practitioners. Critical New Perspectives on ADHD unpicks the myths surrounding the development of this phenomenon and leaves no stone unturned in its search for answers. An in-depth exploration into the reasons for the emergence and maintenance of ADHD lead to suggested explanations of the dominance of US psychiatric models and the need for new markets for major pharmaceutical companies, as well as the functions that ADHD diagnoses fulfil in families, classrooms and communities. In a world where moves to educational inclusion are paradoxically paralleled by the ever-increasing use of medication to control children’s behaviour, this book scrutinises current accepted practice and offers alternative perspectives and strategies for teachers and other education professionals. This in an invaluable resource for anyone with a serious interest in ADHD and other behavioural difficulties.

This book should be read by everyone who wants to understand special education today. New Perspectives in Special Education opens the door to the fascinating and vitally important world of theory that informs contemporary special education. It examines theoretical and philosophical orientations such as ‘positivism’, ‘poststructuralism’ and ‘hermeneutics’, relating these to contemporary global views of special education. Offering a refreshingly balanced view across a broad range of debates, this topical text guides the reader through the main theoretical and philosophical positions that may be held with regard to special education, and critically examines positions that often go unrecognised and unquestioned by practitioners and academics alike. It helps the reader to engage with and question the positions taken by themselves and others, by providing thinking points and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter. Perspectives covered include: Positivism and empiricism Phenomenology and hermeneutics Historical materialism and critical theory Holism and constructivism Structuralism and post structuralism Pragmatism and symbolic interactionism Psychoanalysis Postmodernism and historical epistemology Anyone wishing to gain a fuller understanding of special education should not be without this stimulating and much needed text.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition of childhood worldwide, yet the medical and psychological perspectives that dominate our understandings of ADHD present problems in their reductive understanding of the condition. Exploring ADHD incorporates Michel Foucault’s notions of discourse and power into a critical ethnographic framework in order to analyse ADHD in terms of both the historical conditions that have shaped understandings of the disorder, and also the social conditions which build individual diagnostic cases in today’s schools and families. In this ground-breaking text, Simon Bailey also: acknowledges the necessary work of classrooms, schools and families in contributing to a social order; examines the problem of teacher autonomy and the constraints placed on schools to ‘perform’; describes the role of nurture groups in governing the emotional conduct of children; presents a unique gender analysis of ADHD. This fascinating new book will be of interest to researchers and academics in the field of early childhood education, special and inclusive education, and will illuminate and spark new debate in the arena of ADHD.

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.

Examining ADHD and its social and medical treatments around the world. Attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been a common psychiatric diagnosis in both children and adults since the 1980s and 1990s in the United States. But the diagnosis was much less common—even unknown—in other parts of the world. By the end of the twentieth century, this was no longer the case, and ADHD diagnosis and treatment became an increasingly widespread global phenomenon. As the diagnosis was adopted around the world, the definition and treatment of ADHD often changed in the context of different psychiatric professions, medical systems, and cultures. Global Perspectives on ADHD is the first book to examine how this expanding public health concern is diagnosed and treated in 16 different countries. In some countries, readers learn, over 10% of school-aged children and adolescents are diagnosed with ADHD; in others, that figure is less than 1%. Some countries focus on medicating children with ADHD; others emphasize parent intervention or child therapy. Showing how a medical diagnosis varies across contexts and time periods, this book explains how those distinctions shape medical interventions and guidelines, filling a much-needed gap by examining ADHD on an international scale. Contributors: Madeleine Akrich, Mari J. Armstrong-Hough, Meredith R. Bergey, Eugenia Bianchi, Christian Bröer, Peter Conrad, Claire Edwards, Silvia A. Faraone, Angela M. Filipe, Alessandra Frigerio, Valéria Portugal Gonçalves, Linda J. Graham, Hiroyuki Ito, Fabian Karsch, Victor Kraak, Claudia Malacrida, Lorenzo Montali, Yasuo Murayama, Sebastián Rojas Navarro, Órla O'Donovan, Francisco Ortega, Mónica Peña Ochoa, Brenton J. Prosser, Vololona Rabeharisoa, Patricio Rojas, Tiffani Semach, Ilina Singh, Rachel Spronk, Junko Teruyama, Masatsugu Tsujii, Fan-Tzu Tseng, Manuel Vallée, Rafaela Zorzanelli

Framing ADHD Children explores the three social worlds of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: the home, classroom, and clinic. Through intensive interviews with teachers, parents, clinicians, and ADHD children, this book brings to light the human experiences surrounding this behavior disorder. The experiences of interview participants are supplemented with the most detailed historical discussion of ADHD to date, including the past and present debates about the true 'nature' of the disorder, issues concerning children taking stimulant medications, and the continuing discussion of whether or not modern technology can really detect ADHD in the brain. Both the history of ADHD and the people interviewed here demonstrate that ADHD is far from a cut-and-dry phenomenon, but rather a complex social process that requires the negotiation of uncertainty and ambiguity at every step.

Oxford Textbook of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is an authoritative, multi-disciplinary text covering the diagnosis, assessment and management of patients with ADHD.

This book will address the discussion on online distance education, teacher education, and how the mathematics is transformed with the Internet, based on examples that illustrate the possibilities of different course models and on the theoretical construct humans-with-media.

ADHD is one of the most commonly diagnosed behavioural disorders in children and young people. It is a complex and contested condition, with potential causes and treatments in biological, psychological and social domains. This is the first comprehensive text for nurses and other health professionals in this field. Nursing Children and Young People with ADHD explores the evidence, incorporating and expanding on the new NICE guidelines for practice in this area, to provide an essential knowledge base for practice. The text covers: causes, diagnosis, co-morbidity, user and carer perspectives, assessment, treatment and interventions (including those suitable for use in schools), prescribing and the legal background. An invaluable text for pre-registration student nurses on mental health and children branches, this will also be a useful reference work for post-registration nurses and health professionals seeking evidence-based recommendations for practice.

'This book is an authoritative overview of contributions from many disciplines to special education for young people with a wide range of disabilities. It is a vital resource for students and professionals alike.' – Professor Alan Carr. Director of Clinical Psychology, University College Dublin, Ireland "Farrell offers a comprehensive, practical, and applicable introductory text covering over 20 categorized learning disabilities (LD) ranging from cognitive to physical to emotional/behavioral....This book will benefit teachers and practitioners as a handy reference that does not oversimplify." -- January 2009, CHOICE Educating Special Children is an indispensable companion for anyone requiring an overview of provision that has proved effective for children with learning disorders and disabilities. Dr Michael Farrell guides the reader through what can be labrythine complexities of special education, providing educators with a road map to the most effective methods of provision currently being used. By concentrating on individual disabilities and disorders and not relying on the education system of any one country, Dr Farrell explores issues surrounding: communication disorders and Autism and Asperger's Syndrome developmental co-ordination disorders reading, writing and mathematics disorders disorders of conduct, anxiety and depression attention deficit hyperactivity disorder mild, moderate to severe, and profound cognitive impairment sensory impairments orthopaedic and motor disabilities, health impairments and traumatic brain injury. In addition, this authoritative text provides advice and support that is relevant to educating pupils in a range of settings. The importance of multi-professional working is explored and analysed. Based on many years of experience, and drawing on expertise from all corners of the globe, this is the definite guide to special education today.