PROMOTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN ADHD CHILDREN

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DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): The overall goal of the proposed study is to determine the effectiveness of an assessment-based, school intervention package (e.g., instructional modifications) in improving the academic achievement of elementary school-aged children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A consultative problem-solving model employing functional and academic assessment data will be used to individually tailor classroom intervention components for students. A sample of 180, 1st through 4th grade children meeting research criteria for ADHD will be randomly assigned to an Individualized Academic Intervention (IAI) or a Generic Academic Intervention (GAI) group. Both groups will receive teacher-, parent-, computer-, and peer-mediated academic interventions for a period of one year, followed by a four-month generalization procedure that will focus on self-mediated strategies. The selection of intervention strategies in the IAI will be based upon hypothesized functions of target academic concerns and academic assessment data, while selection of GAI procedures will be driven by the diagnosis and target behavior (i.e., typical treatment selection process). The IAI will include a teacher coaching component to facilitate the use of selected strategies, while the GAI will not. Curriculum-based measurement data will be used to monitor and adjust intervention in the IAI group while these data will not be used with the GAI group. Dependent measures will include standardized and curriculum-based indices of academic performance, archival data (e.g., school attendance, and letter grades), broad- and narrow-band behavior ratings completed by parents and teachers, direct observations of classroom behavior, and parent-, teacher-, and student ratings of treatment acceptability. Between group differences will be assessed on five occasions across 28 months with the latter assessment phase representing a one-year follow-up. Results will be analyzed using both multivariate analyses of variance with repeated measures and hierarchical linear modeling. It is hypothesized that the IAI approach to academic intervention will result in significant improvement in academic achievement and classroom behavior both across time and relative to the more typical GAI approach to school services for this population.