Attention-Inattention on a Continuum: Responses to Daily Routine by Preschoolers Considered to Have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting Notions of “Normal”: Addressing the Needs of Students With Perceived Disabilities

Abstract

Responding to Alfredo Artiles’s (2011) call for research on “the racialization of disabilities,” this paper draws on a longitudinal ethnographic study of four African-American children from low-income families, who have been either diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or considered at-risk of having the disorder. In particular, the paper challenges binary perspectives on these children’s characteristics held by their teachers by examining the focal children’s responses to daily routine in early childhood settings. The findings of this study point to the importance of understanding children’s engagement in school activities on a continuum and in context. We present these findings with relevant video clips, photos, and interview transcripts and discuss the implications of the study.

Authors

• Kyunghwa Lee, University of Georgia

• Rebecca Ann Smith, University of Georgia - Athens

• Su Yun Choi, University of Georgia - Athens