Media Release
November 22 2006
Students see red on ADHD
The
school experiences of students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) is the focus of UniSA academic
Dr Brenton Prosser’s new book
Seeing Red, to be launched at the Australian Association for
Research in Education Annual Conference in Adelaide next week.
Following on from his highly successful book ADHD: who’s failing who? Dr Prosser continues to challenge the conventional notion of how we deal with ADHD.
Seeing Red is the first book to record the views of Australian students with ADHD.
“It seems strange that each day we hear the opinions of every man and his dog on ADHD, but we rarely hear the voices of young people diagnosed with the disorder,” Dr Prosser says.
“It’s not that students with ADHD don’t understand schoolwork, it is often that schools don’t understand how they work.”
In talking to these students, Dr Prosser found their experiences unsettle many of the stereotypes about ADHD.
“Young people want to do well in school and are angry at the representations of ADHD put forward by the media,” he says.
“They say that medication is not the answer for school, it just helps them make smarter choices.
“Students also explain that engaging teaching helps them to learn, while old fashioned discipline often has the opposite to the desired effect.
“Hopefully through this book, schools will get a better understanding of what life is like in school when you have ADHD.”
Seeing Red is compulsory reading for educational leaders, academics, researchers and anyone wanting to explore the narratives of ADHD students in depth.
Seeing Red: Critical Narratives in ADHD Research by Dr Brenton
Prosser
(PostPressed, Flaxton, Queensland, 2006)
will be launched by
Professor Pat Thompson (Nottingham University) and
Professor Robert Reid (University of Nebraska)
at the 2006 Australian Association for Research in Education Annual
Conference
3.40pm, Monday November 27
Bonython Hall, North Terrace, Adelaide
Media contact
- Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au