University of Canterbury. Australia: A University of Canterbury international education PhD student’s
survey of Ethiopian children with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder will soon be helpful to New Zealand teachers and teacher
trainers.
Doctoral student Feruz Mohammed says there are no recent studies in
New Zealand, but international figures estimate up to six percent of
primary school children suffer ADHD. The attention and activity problems
that underlie ADHD interrupt learning social skills and social
interactions. Mohammed is preparing a manual of the strategies that
could be used to help New Zealand teachers.
The original plan was to conduct the study in Christchurch but the
earthquakes made it difficult to bring teachers together and conduct the
training for six weeks while teachers were struggling to help quake
affected young children.
“It is concerning that children with ADHD may disrupt the learning of
other children sharing the same classroom. Most teachers have no
training in specialist strategies that could be used to help them
support children with ADHD in their classrooms. That is true in New
Zealand as well as in Ethiopia.
“My research showed that 36 hours of in-service training for
teachers, plus collaborative and individual support, gave teachers the
confidence and strategies they need to make a difference. This training
helped the children in their classrooms who had ADHD to settle down,
improve their attention to learning tasks. This was transferred to
improved learning in their academic skills.
“This training added special strategies for children with ADHD to the
internationally-used programme Incredible Years for Teachers. These
strategies were easily integrated into the regular teaching routines and
did not require extensive time on the part of the teachers, once they
had learned the skills. It also definitely improved the relationships
between the teachers and the children with ADHD.”
Her research has helped people in Ethiopia especially teachers and children in the study.
The Incredible Years Programme for teachers is available in New
Zealand and is targeted for pre-school and primary teachers. The special
adaptations that help primary teachers of children with ADHD are not
yet available, although she hopes her manual, when finished, will be
useful for schools. She is also working on disseminating her research
findings through professional journals.
Mohammed’s research was supervised by the University’s School of Health Sciences’ Associate Professor Kathleen Liberty.