The prevalence of features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a special school in Ireland.
Most kids with ID in special schools screen positive for ADHD, so quick teacher scales are vital.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Teachers filled out the Conners Teacher Rating Scale for every child in one Irish special school.
All 84 pupils had intellectual disability.
The team counted how many scored in the markedly elevated range on any ADHD subscale.
What they found
Fifty-six percent of the children landed in the high-score zone on at least one ADHD scale.
The authors say this points to under-diagnosis in the ID population.
How this fits with other research
Farrant et al. (1998) saw only 15 % ADHD in adults with severe ID. The gap looks huge, but age and setting differ. Kids often show more hyperactivity, and teacher ratings pick up classroom behaviors parents miss.
Matson et al. (2011) followed children with ID for three years and found ADHD symptoms stay longer than in typical peers. Their data extend the Irish snapshot by showing the problem does not fade quickly.
Hanson et al. (2013) showed dual-informant agreement drops ADHD prevalence to 2 % in autism. The Irish study used only teachers, so real co-occurrence might be lower if parents also rated.
Why it matters
Over half of special-school students with ID may have undetected ADHD features. Add the short Conners Teacher Scale to your intake packet. One extra form can flag attention problems early and guide your intervention plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Irish schools is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of features of ADHD in a special school, in order to ascertain the number of children who may need further assessment for ADHD. The study also explores the reliability of the Conners Teachers Rating Scale in this population. METHOD: All teachers in a special school for children with ID were asked to complete the Conners Teachers Rating Scale and the Attention-Distractibility, Inhibition-Excitation Classroom Assessment Rating Scale, for those children whose parents had consented for them to take part in this study. Consent was obtained for 84 children a response rate of 71%, between the ages of 5 and 18 (mean = 10.5 years; SD = 3.7). RESULTS: The Conners Teachers Rating Scale was found to be internally reliable and had a normal distribution with our results. Overall, 55.9% of participants (47/84) had markedly elevated scores (T > 69) for at least one of the target subscales, which were the 'Hyperactivity', 'Inattention' and the 'ADHD Index' subscales of the Conners Teachers Rating Scales. In addition, the findings would suggest that the Conners Teachers Rating Scale can be a useful screening tool in the population of school children with ID. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that ADHD may be under diagnosed in children with ID. This has practical implications for the mental health needs of these children. It is recommended that further studies are carried out to determine the prevalence of ADHD in this population.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2008 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2007.01017.x