Slow Down With the ADHD Labels

”Labels shape teacher expectations. Imagine what your reaction would be if the principal informed you that the new student in your class is mildly mentally retarded. Studies on teacher expectations have demonstrated that what teachers believe about student capability is directly related to student achievement.
Labels send a clear message: The learning problem is with the student. Labels tend to obscure the essence of teaching and learning as a two-way street. Some students placed in a mild disability category have nothing wrong with them. They are then the unfortunate recipients of ineffective schooling.” (Henley, Ramsey, Algozzine; yr unknown)

Just don’t be in a hurry to have a child labeled.
Does this apply to every child? I think anyone with common sense will answer a resounding “NO!”.
Does it apply to lots and lots of children who are wiggly, rambunctious, inattentive, and even disruptive? “Yes! Yes it does!”
It’s just not always necessary to rush to label, and this blog is certainly going to give you food for thought.

The diagnosis of ADHD is rapidly expanding, and the associated symptoms that are used to identify a child continue to grow (Owens, 2020). ADHD diagnosis have risen by 41% over the last 10 years. At the time of this blog (November, 2024) the number hovers around 6.4 million children, which is more than 10% of all U.S. children (Owens, 2020; Wienen et al., 2019). That’s 1 child in 10! 1 out of every 10 children has ADHD? Seriously? And the CDC reports an astounding 70% of those are receiving medication. Today there are no biological markers for ADHD, and the CDC classifies it as a mental illness or neurodevelopment disorder (CDC, 2020).

So what’s going on here? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that, in any group of children, 1 in 10 has a mental/neurodevelopmental disorder requiring medication. And as a society we better pause and consider the long term consequences of raising an entire generation of humans of whom 1 in 10 believes they have a problem that is beyond their ability to control without medication.

Although there are exceptions, a referral for assessment generally infers that the student has a deficiency of some kind (Cuba et al., 2021). Studies suggest that labeling, to include unnecessary and incorrect labeling of a child, can come at a significant and long-lasting cost to a child. The most nefarious consequence is the child him/her self believing they are less competent and intelligent than their peers….slowly falling behind the general student academically (Lawrence & Mathis, 2020). Failure to develop self-efficacy, the belief that one can be successful, is the nail in the coffin of self-motivation.

Many teachers expect less academically from labeled children. And classmates often react with over-helpful gestures, exclusion, or bullying. Research shows that some teachers come to the classroom with narrow ideas about acceptable classroom behavior that don’t include wiggly, easily bored, talkative children. Many teachers also have preconceived beliefs about gender, student dialects, race/ethnic groups. Males are diagnosed with ADHD at a rate twice as high as females (Metzger & Hamilton, 2020). Asian children are rarely labelled. Black children are diagnosed at twice the rate as Whites and Puerto Ricans. In addition, children from lower income households are referred for testing at a higher rate. And schools that routinely schedule morning, lunchtime, and afternoon recesses/active time have lower rates of “overactive students” than those schools that limit physical activity.

To be clear, testing and labeling some children does indeed secure for them a more productive learning opportunity (Verlenden et al., 2021). In public schools labels can also accompany state and federal money to assist with their education (Sperling, 2020). For some students, the instructional accommodations that accompany labeling can make the difference between success and failure in the classroom.

There are approaches to teaching children that don’t include constantly being penned in a chair all day. It’s insane that educational gadgets are developed and purchased by school systems to “help a child get the wiggles out sitting in their chair”. Overly active children need extra physical and intellectual stimulation that they are not receiving in regular classrooms. There’s nothing “wrong” with them. They just need to move several times a day. They need classroom lessons that fit the needs of active children. Children deserve better than to be stigmatized for being children. And the current practice of labeling 1 child in 10 as “overactive” has to stop.

CDC (2024)
https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/data/index.html
Cuba, M., Massaro, V., Waters, C., Watson, S., Cody, A., & Stemhagen, (2021). Beyond the label: Using a multi-level model of intersectionality to explore the educational experiences of Latino English learners. Journal of Latinos and Education, 20(1), 62-77. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/15348431.2018.1540351
Henley, M., Ramsey, R., Algozzine, R. (yr unknown). Labeling and Disadvantages of Labeling. Education Conference Article
https://people.uncw.edu/robertsonj/SEC210/Labeling.pdf
Lawrence, W. & Mathis, J. (2020). Multimodal assessments: Affording children labelled “at-risk” expressive and receptive opportunities in the area of literacy. Language and Education, 34(2).
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/09500782.2020.1724140 
Metzger, A. & Hamilton, L. (2020). The stigma of ADHD: Teacher ratings of labeled students. Sociological Perspectives, 64(2). https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/10.1177/0731121420937739
Owens, J. (2020). Relationships between an ADHD diagnosis and future school behaviors among children with mild behavioral problems. Sociology of Education, 93(3).
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177%2F0038040720909296
Sperling, J. (2020). “I just want to finish high school like everybody else” Continuation high school students resist deficit discourse and stigmatization. Equity and Excellence in Education, 52(4), 465-484.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/10665684.2019.1691960
Verlenden, J., Sheeren, N. & Brown, J. (2021). Steps for the implementation of universal screening for behavior and emotional risk to support multi-tiered systems of support: Two case studies. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 37(1), 69-107.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1080/15377903.2020.1780660
Wienen, A., Sluiter, M., Thoutenhoofd, E., Jonge, P. & Bastra, L. (2019). The advantages of an ADHD classification from the perspective of teachers. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 34(5), 649-662. https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/full/10.1080/08856257.2019.1580838