4 - (SYM 3) Promoting the Social Value of Students with ADHD in the Classroom: Children's Perceptions of Teacher Behaviors

Background: The Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC) program was designed to improve peers’ social judgments of classmates with ADHD through the teacher modeling the social value of these students. Teachers were asked to give positive attention and praise to students at risk for ADHD at a 3:1 ratio relative to peers. However, a randomized trial suggested that students at risk for ADHD were reported by teachers to have better social/academic adjustment, and the students perceived more teacher support, their peers had poorer regard of students at risk for ADHD. The present study follows up on this finding with a new sample to understand how peers may perceive the teacher’s behaviors.

Method: Participants were 196 children (ages 5-10; 46% female) who watched four videos displaying a teacher delivering MOSAIC strategies to a student: check-ins, special time, and praising a personal/academic attribute. Participants were randomized into one of four conditions manipulating (a) the ADHD status of the recipient, and (b) the equality in the teacher’s strategy implementation. Following each video, we assessed how genuine they thought the teacher was (“does the teacher really want to do this?”), and the justification for the teacher’s actions (“should the teacher do this?”). ANOVAs tested the main effects of ADHD status and Equality, and the interaction, and free response answers were coded.

Results: Genuineness. There was a significant main effect of ADHD status, such that when the teacher directed the strategies at a student with ADHD (relative to a neurotypical student), participants believed the teacher was less genuine. There was no main effect of Equality, nor an interaction effect. Justification. There was a significant main effect of Equality, such that when the teacher delivered the strategies in an unequal way, participants reported that it was less justified. There was no main effect of ADHD status or interaction effect.

Discussion: The theorized mechanism of change behind MOSAIC relies on peers thinking the teacher values students with ADHD. Instead, participants perceived the teacher’s actions to be less genuine when the recipient had ADHD. If children do not believe that the teacher likes students with ADHD, they may not demonstrate changes in peer regard. Because children found unequally-delivered strategies to be unjustified, this may lead to resentment and disliking of the recipient. Future iterations of MOSAIC may (a) provide better stigma-reducing psychoeducation about ADHD, and (b) deliver strategies more equally.