Ideal school settings for students with ADHD. The perspective of the students con-cerned and ADHD experts

Abstract

Background and objectives: The aim of our research was to discover the characteristics of the supportive school environment for pupils diagnosed with ADHD and to gather practical suggestions for the education of the target group by interviewing the pupils concerned and experts, which can be incorporated into the daily activities of the schools that educate them once the research is completed.

Method: a semi-structured interview with both students in special education and experts was used to explore their perceptions of a supportive school environment in an explicitly exploratory way.

Results: The interviewed pupils and experts described the supportive school environment as about the same. The difference was that some experts did not favour the idea of homework, and none of the pupils would choose full-day school.

Conclusion: The school environment can be made more suitable for students with ADHD through a change in attitude and by making modifications that can be easily implemented. The similarities between the characteristics of the environment described by the experts and the pupils themselves suggest that the first steps towards creating a supportive school environment for pupils with ADHD can be made by only hearing the pupils' voice, following the principle of "Nothing about us without us".

Keywords: ADHD, support need, expert and student perspectives, supportive classroom and learning environment