Literature Review #1

Kotkin, R. (1998 November/December). The Irvine Paraprofessional Program: Promising Practice for Serving Students with ADHD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 556-565.

The research article describes and explains the Irvine Paraprofessional Program, an intervention program created at the University of California at Irvine in the early 1990s. IPP is a 12-week program that includes direct intervention using paraprofessionals trained in IPP; consultation between the teacher and school psychologist; school-based reinforcement; and social skill training for the student. The article describes the position of paraprofessional as a generalist worker in mental health or other human services who help to integrate different professions, such as teaching and psychology.

The authors review possible reasons teachers have resisted the aid of paraprofessionals in the past, including time and resource constraints, theoretical disagreements, and intrusiveness into their classroom. The study demonstrating the efficacy of the IPP offers resources therefore eliminating one possible excuse for resisting aid from a paraprofessional.

The IPP targets grades K through 6 and has four components, including 6 hours per day of intervention between the paraprofessional and the regular class, daily skills training groups, double-blind assessments of pharmacological interventions, and parent involvement.

The article describes the IPP training each paraprofessional receives. Possible candidates are often already employed as teachers’ aides and screened for interpersonal skills prior to the training. The training is a thirty-hour course consisting of 7 modules, including symptoms, assessment and treatment; behavior measurement; behavior modification; token economy and contingencies; response maintenance; learning characteristics and interventions, and school settings.

The consultations between the school psychologist and the classroom teacher are described in detail, including 10 possible interventions. The IPP point system is also described; the student receives repeated praise for accomplishments and good behavior on a regular schedule, and deductions for failure to comply. As the program progresses, the praise and deductions decrease and the time intervals between evaluations increase. There are 5 levels, 1 through 3 and then the challenge level and the transition level.

The benefits of IPP are that it only requires resources already commonly available and does not require any additional staff.

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Brand, S.; Dunn, R.; Greb, F. (2002, May/June). Learning Styles of Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Who Are They and How Can We Teach Them? Clearing House, 268-274.

The authors study the success of grouping students into one category such as AD/HD. Instead, the researchers examined the success of teaching students classified as AD/HD using teaching styles that complemented their learning styles. Past successes are cited from New York using handicapped students who received alternative teaching styles and passed the state competency tests at higher rates than normal.

The AD/HD classification is discussed, including a brief history of the label and the dramatic increase in cases. The conditions associated with AD/HD are listed, and the typical difficulties the students are faced with, including grade retention, delinquency, underachievement, drugs, and dropping out.

The authors review recommendations from private and government agencies and concluded teachers were receiving inaccurate, unsupported and conflicting information from the various agencies. Most importantly, the authors found, almost every agency assumed students with AD/HD have similar learning styles.

The researchers implemented the Dunn and Dunn Learning-Style Model, which promotes different learning environments and education approaches according to the learning style of the student. Researchers examined the learning styles of students who had been diagnosed with AD/HD and have been receiving prescription drugs to treat AD/HD. The researchers determined the students’ learning styles using the 21 elements but focused on reactions to the environment, emotionality, sociological learning preferences, physiological characteristics, and global versus analytic processes. The sample included 230 students, 187 males and 43 females, from New Jersey and New York.

The conclusions suggested many AD/HD students required low light levels, lacked persistence and required breaks, and performed poorly in the morning. Furthermore, the study found that parental and teacher encouragement was effective with AD/HD children more so than the average student population. Therefore, the study proved children with AD/HD do have a similar learning setting and style different from the average population. The researchers concluded that children with AD/HD are taught in the afternoon rather than the morning; with tactile and kinesthetic instructional resources; in soft-illumination; with multi-sensory approaches, and with parental supervision.

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D’Alonzo, B. (Winter, 1996). Identification and Education of Students With Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Preventing School Failure, 88-94.

The article is a comprehensive report and description of the historical perspective, definitions, etiology, behaviors associated with, identification and assessment of, interventions, and numerous other aspects of children with AD/HD. The author cites many sources, suggesting the information has been culled and chosen with precision and care.

The definition from the American Psychiatric Association is explained, including the subtypes of AD/HD: combined type, predominantly inattentive type, and predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type. The predominant characteristics are also described, including inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The author makes it a point to explain why AD/HD is not a learning disorder, although it can be served under the category if the student meets eligibility requirements. The author states, however, that 80% of students with AD/HD also have a learning disability.

The Etiology is discussed, and in particular, the disagreement of the etiology. Researchers often claim one of three causes, or a combination of, biological, genetic, and environmental factors.

The range of behaviors is discussed, citing numerous previous authors. The identification and assessment process is described, including questions that should be asked regarding the students’ behavior and the learning environment. Suggestions of where teachers and staff may find further assistance are offered. The assessment techniques and measures are also described, including interviews, observation, rating scales, psycho-educational tests. Numerous instruction strategies are listed, followed by environmental structuring and behavior management and medication management approaches. The author suggests the key is diagnosing and identifying the disorder, followed by carefully meeting the needs of the student using parental, staff and professional involvement.

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Taylor, H.; Larson, S. (July/August 1998). Teaching Children With AD/HD—What Do Elementary and Middle School Social Studies Teachers Need to Know? Social Studies, 161-165.

The authors address AD/HD in relation to social studies classrooms. They found that social studies teachers are turning to current research to assist their program, but often find little research in relation to their subject matter. A short explanation of ADHD and how it is diagnosed and how it is exhibited in the classroom is offered, free from medical and complicated jargon so as to assist regular teachers.

The article focuses on ADHD students lacking interpersonal and social skills, which can compound the difficulty in the social studies classroom. Cooperative learning is found to be on of the most difficult tasks for a student with ADHD, thus social studies teachers need additional assistance.

The authors describe what social studies teachers can do, and strategies are listed to meet cognitive, affective and social/behavioral needs. For cognitive needs, teachers are recommended to break assignments into segments, change activities regularly, and give clear short written and accessible directions.

To meet affective needs teachers are encouraged to use positive reinforcement, teach students to question other students’ negative or critical opinions, and to take a personal interest in the students. Classroom routines, praise for good student behavior, and allowing students guided choices and to regain control are also recommendations to meet affective needs.

Strategies for meeting social and behavioral needs include providing hands-on activities that allow the students to move and actively engage in the environment. Provide activities and models for correct and appropriate ways to express emotions. Teachers are encouraged to create laws for the classroom to minimize disruptive behavior that includes tattling, crying, and blaming.

Finally, the author suggests ways in which teachers can help parents with ADHD. Teachers are encouraged to help parents better understand ADHD to reduce their own frustration, and help develop strategies to meet their own children’s needs.

Comparison

I reviewed four article that deal with elementary school students diagnosed with ADHD. All four article address teaching strategies, whilst one discusses the history and methods required to identify a child with ADHD.

The most interesting article, authored by Brand, Dunn and Greb, focused on learning styles of ADHD students. The authors of this article suggested that organizations intended to help educators teach such students often fail to support their findings with adequate research, and assume all ADHD students have one type of learning style. Although the article goes on to prove there is a predominant learning style amongst ADHD students, their findings do disprove some popular assumptions about strategies for teaching ADHD students. Their findings highlight the shortcomings of D’Alonzo’s article, which basically summarizes previous findings from other research articles. Essentially, D’Alonzo’s researched other research projects, attempting to make final and overarching conclusions, but failed to find anything new about teaching methods. Although D’Alonzo does offer several guides and lists to strategies, structures and approaches, he failed to include the information Brand et al., discovered relating to classroom lighting and time of day for instruction. D’Alonzo, however, does succeed in offering many alternatives and positive suggestions, where as Brand et al. only offer five conclusive suggestions, (teach ADHD students in the afternoon, use tactile and kinesthetic resources, use soft illumination, accommodate perceptual strengths, and use parental supervision); where as D’Alonzo offered twenty-four teaching suggestions.

The articles by D’Alonzo and Brand, et al., differ drastically to Taylor and Larson’s article that addresses methods strictly for teaching social studies to ADHD students. In effect, this article attempts to fill a niche that is lacking in research of methods to educate ADHD students. The authors found most other research articles to be full of jargon that most teachers are unfamiliar with, which the previous two articles do tend to use quite a lot of, and fail to address specific needs of social studies teachers. Taylor and Larson do not offer any new insights into educating ADHD students that the previous two article do not, however Taylor and Larson do discuss the common findings in the context of social studies and in easier to understand language, which may help more teachers understand implement the findings regarding methods of teaching ADHD students.