Efficacy of a School-Based Treatment Program for Middle School Youth With ADHD

Abstract

The effects of a set of behavioral and educational interventions provided in a middle-school-based mental health program on the behavior and academic performance of 7 students diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were studied. The treatments included educational, social skills and family interventions designed to target school functioning, peer relations, and family functioning. Dependent measures included parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms, daily functioning, and academic grades. Large effect sizes were found on measures of inattention and school functioning. Grades and measures of family functioning and peer relations yielded small to moderate effect sizes. Description of the procedures is provided and implications for advancing school-based mental health care for adolescents with a diagnosis of ADHD are discussed.

Interventions in School Settings for Students With ADHD

“…In the studies included in this category (see Table 2), behavioral or cognitive-behavioral techniques were combined with other types of psychological interventions, such as counseling sessions, training in social skills, or training in study skills (Anhalt, McNeil, & Bahl, 1998;Arco, Fernández, & Hinojo, 2004;Barkley et al, 2000;Evans, Axelrod, & Langberg, 2004;Hoza, Mrug, Pelham, Greiner, & Gnagy, 2003;Miranda & Presentación, 2000;Miranda, Presentación, & Soriano, 2002;Shelton et al, 2000). The eight articles reviewed refer to seven different programs, as the study by Barkley et al deals with the same treatment and the same participants as the one by Shelton et al, except that in the latter study, results obtained 2 years after the intervention are presented.…”

“…Two samples could be considered "large-scale" interventions due to the number of participants in the samples Hoza et al, 2003), and three others included an acceptable number of participants (Arco et al, 2004;Miranda & Presentación, 2000;Miranda et al, 2002). There was only one study that used fewer than 10 participants (Evans et al, 2004) and another where a one-case design was used (Anhalt et al, 1998).…”

“…In general, the programs were developed in either ordinary classrooms (Anhalt et al, 1998;Barkley et al, 2000;Miranda et al, 2002) or support classrooms where the students met with the primary counselor (Evans et al, 2004). Some interventions took place in the school setting, but after normal school hours (Miranda & Presentación, 2000), or in a summer camp (Hoza et al, 2003).…”

“…Social-skill training was generally based on the teaching and behavioral practice through role playing of a wide range of skills, such as asking questions, listening, cooperating, complimenting, and so forth (Arco et al, 2004;Barkley et al, 2000;Evans et al, 2004). A different procedure was used in the ADHD Classroom Kit.…”

“…Another approach was based on a buddy system, a dyadic peer intervention in which each of the children was paired with a buddy according to his or her sociometric preferences and other factors like coincidences in academic or sports interests, which encouraged them to cooperate and develop ties of friendship (Hoza et al, 2003). There are even studies in which sports activities were programmed so the students could use the social skills that they had learned in an enjoyable and less structured context (Evans et al, 2004;Hoza et al, 2003).…”