Date of Award

2016

Degree Name

School Psychology

College

Graduate School of Education and Professional Development

Type of Degree

Ed.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Sandra Stroebel

Second Advisor

R. Lanai Jennings

Third Advisor

Conrae Lucas-Adkins

Abstract

ADHD is the most widely diagnosed behavior disorder in children however, the nonstandardized nature of an ADHD evaluation can lead to misdiagnosis. Teachers often initiate referrals, though symptoms associated with ADHD can also be observed in gifted students. Appalachia has reported rates of ADHD that are much higher than the national average. It is therefore important that the factors that influence referral are better understood. This study hypothesized that priming to giftedness would reduce the likelihood that a teacher would refer for an ADHD evaluation in ambiguous vignettes and that teachers primed to consider giftedness will rate characteristics of ADHD as more ambiguous than non-primed teachers. Data from 65 participants were collected via SurveyMonkey questionnaire. No significant difference was found to support the hypotheses that Appalachian teachers rated any differently than non-Appalachian teachers and priming for giftedness had no effect on teacher ratings or referral rate.

Subject(s)

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder - Diagnosis.

Download

Share

COinS