School Advocacy

How to Advocate for Better Teacher Training on ADHD

You can improve the way neurodivergent students are taught in the classroom by lobbying for educational reform. Here’s how.

By Cindy Goldrich, Ed.M., Carole Fleck Verified Updated on August 27, 2024
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We are wasting valuable brains and risking poor outcomes by teaching students with ADHD according to old and outdated lesson plans. Our knowledge of brain science, mental health, and learning has evolved significantly over the last decade. It’s time for our educational institutions to use this knowledge to create positive school environments where all children can learn best.

Alongside other ADHD advocates, I’ve been working for more than a decade to create systemic change in the way we educate students with ADHD. I will share exciting opportunities for civic actions you can take to encourage local and state legislators to implement these special ed reforms. As Margaret Mead famously said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Teacher Training Transforms the Classroom

I have conducted hundreds of ADHD-specific teacher trainings across diverse school districts nationwide that vary in size, economic status, and geography. They all share a common asset: teachers eager for additional knowledge, tools, and resources to enhance their students’ success. They aspire to spend less time dealing with challenging behaviors and more time addressing the needs of all their students. That’s where I come in. Within 12 hours, my training can transform how teachers perceive, interact with, and support students with ADHD, building their competence and confidence in the classroom.

Last summer, Lisa Reynolds, a parent in Kansas, asked if I would speak with one of her local legislators about creating a bill that would improve the way students with ADHD are taught. Reynolds pleaded for change after years of failed attempts to help her son receive appropriate education and support.

“If he required too many redirections, teachers recommended removing him from class and transferring him to the in-school suspension room for independent work,” Reynolds said of her son, who has ADHD. “These kids get labeled as lazy or bad. They don’t understand why school is so hard and why they are being punished.”

[Get This Download: An Educator’s Guide to Classroom Challenges & Solutions]

With Reynolds’s help, I drafted Kansas House Bill 2480, requiring each school district in the state to hire an ADHD specialist to train and support teachers. I then gathered stellar experts from across disciplines with the knowledge, experience, and research to support this effort. Not surprisingly, I found that many professionals share my determination to change the current educational methodology.

Bright Students, Poor Outcomes

George J. DuPaul, Ph.D., professor of school psychology and associate dean for research at Lehigh University College of Education, is one of many experts and clinicians prepared to testify on behalf of this ADHD legislation. He says that youth with ADHD face significant academic and mental health challenges in elementary and secondary schools. Typically, he says, they complete less assigned work, receive below-average grades, perform poorly on exams, and are more likely than their peers to drop out of school.

Many students with ADHD are of average or above-average intelligence. Yet they are at greater risk of underemployment, incarceration, and even suicide.

Every day, well-meaning teachers unintentionally create hardship, frustration, and worse by expecting students with ADHD to behave and perform according to neurotypical standards. Very bright students with ADHD may have slower processing speed (which creates overwhelm and disengagement), weaker working memory (they struggle to retain what is presented without visual or other supports), and other challenges that arise from underdeveloped executive function and emotional regulation skills.

[Click to Download: 10 Teaching Strategies that Help Students with ADHD]

Many educators have backgrounds in special education but no expertise in ADHD. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves due to overwhelming challenges and limited resources and support. We cannot ask more of teachers. But we can provide the training and resources they need to support their neurodivergent students.

Seeking Action Across America

While HR Bill 2480 is still working its way through the Kansas legislature, we are determined to proceed on a broader scale and create a national dialogue about supporting students and families impacted by ADHD. We hope that lawmakers will be inclined to consider legislation once they see similar bills successfully passed.

Virginia is a good example. Academic outcomes for Virginia students with learning differences have been inexcusably poor in recent years. These students scored lower on Standards of Learning assessments, on average, than their neurotypical peers. Worse, they were 52 percent more likely to drop out of high school.

After a scathing report on the state’s failure to comply with basic federal special education program requirements, and an ongoing probe by the U.S. Department of Education, lawmakers passed a bill that aims to dramatically change the way educators are trained to identify and support students with learning differences and disabilities.

The bill was signed into law and became effective July 1, 2024. However, it could take until the 2025-26 school year for some, if not all, of the widespread changes to be implemented, says Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, who co-sponsored the bipartisan bill with Delegate Barbara Favola.

The new law requires every teacher and administrator statewide to receive professional development by regional coaches and experts in special education. The state will also fund regional parent resource centers to help caregivers advocate for students with diagnosed or suspected learning differences.

Coyner says she spent one year interviewing and surveying educators and special education systems across the country to learn about best practices. She studied lawsuits filed by parents against school districts in Virginia involving claims of inadequate education supports for their students, and she worked with the University of Virginia law school on public policy measures to address current challenges.

We need states across America to prioritize the importance of adequate training for teachers and recognize that it can change the lives of future generations of students. Employing an on-site ADHD specialist can provide education, re-teaching, and effective problem-solving, enabling these students to become assets to the entire school population.

Your Call-To-Action Guide

It is up to us to create a groundswell of support by approaching school boards, and local and national legislators, to push for change. Experiences from local parents and professionals will have the most impact regionally; however, their shared information and approach can apply to all states.

  • Ask your local school board how teachers are being taught to support students with ADHD. How current is the training, how recently has it been provided, and how many staff members have received the most recent training?
  • Use the template below to approach your local school board, state senator, and state representative, as well as your U.S. senators and congressional representatives, to advocate for legislation at both the local and national levels.

How to Approach Your Representatives

  • Start by writing a letter or an email addressed to each of your school board members and state senators and representatives. Each state has an education committee in the state House and the state Senate. Search for “Education Committee in Congress” and “Senate Education Committee” in your state for the names of committee members.
  • Include an overview of the problem, a fact sheet to support your views, and information about how all students would benefit from your proposed changes.

Then ask your representatives to do the following:

  • Enact legislation requiring all educators to undergo training on the impact of ADHD on the brain, and its implications for teaching, classroom design, and support. [See Proposed Teacher Training Solutions to get more specifics.]
  • Equip every educator with a fundamental understanding of the social and emotional impact of ADHD and executive function challenges on learning, motivation, and behavior.
  • Encourage universities to incorporate a curriculum on ADHD for general education teachers.

Your Fact Sheet

Help legislators understand the prevalence and consequences of ADHD with these facts:

  • The American Psychiatric Association recognizes ADHD as a prevalent mental disorder in children.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 10 percent of school-age children have ADHD, though some reports skew higher. This means that virtually every classroom has at least one student with ADHD.
  • ADHD is a chronic and sometimes debilitating disorder. It is known to impact the academic achievements and daily functioning of students.
  • People diagnosed with ADHD have an elevated risk for school failure, drug and alcohol abuse, accidental injuries, premature death, and suicide.
  • ADHD is not specifically identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Instead, it falls under the “other health impairment” category in IEPs. This distinction might contribute to differences in training compared to training about autism, which affects one-quarter as many school-age children.

Proposed Teacher Training Solutions

Tell your legislators that employing a school district-wide ADHD specialist is the most cost-effective and impactful way to support teachers and students. The ADHD specialist may be an educator or administrator who is already on staff, regardless of discipline. They can:

  • Train current and incoming staff to manage the social and emotional impact of ADHD by introducing effective teaching methods. Many simple adjustments in teaching style and classroom environment can significantly improve the learning experience for all students.
  • Reduce the time teachers spend managing ADHD students who fall off task, or those with challenging behaviors, by offering guidance and sharing best practices and evidence-based teaching strategies to address situations in the classroom.
  • Support parents by explaining how ADHD affects learning, motivation, and behavior. This knowledge will empower parents to become more collaborative and effective partners with teachers.

Over time, these investments in teacher training will lead to a stable and experienced education workforce, while reducing teacher stress, burnout, turnover, and associated costs.

These steps will also improve students’ retention, mental health, underemployment, and rates of incarceration and self-harm.

Effective ADHD specialist training should include:

  • A comprehensive, research-based description of the social and emotional impact of ADHD and executive function development on learning, motivation, behavior, and the family system.
  • Strategies to address executive function skill development in task initiation, organization, time management, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, and attention regulation. Executive function deficits are addressed by helping each student develop internal and external strategies and skills.
  • A program to address challenging behaviors with a strengths-based, collaborative problem-solving approach designed to improve conflict resolution, productivity, and motivation.

Teacher Training for ADHD: Next Steps

 

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