Colman Noctor: Children with ADHD struggle in traditional schools 

'The three main areas where children with ADHD struggle are academic environments, social interactions, and mastering daily tasks'

'The school environment can be highly challenging for children with ADHD.'

I recently spoke about ADHD at the annual neurodiversity conference at SETU in Waterford. While preparing my presentation, I considered talking about the usual themes of ADHD treatment, such as medication, behavioural supports, and parent training programmes. However, after some deliberation, I decided to talk about self-worth,which is critically important for children with ADHD, and how the school environment can erode it.

Protecting these children’s self-worth is crucially important as, according to US psychologist Emily Swain, research consistently shows that children with ADHD tend to have lower self-esteem than their neurotypical peers.