An assesment of general education teachers and school counsellors proficiency in recognizing students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as an administrative problem at primary schools

The study aimed at assessing general education teachers? and school counselors? level of proficiency in identifying students with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, as an administrative problem at primary school level. It also sought to provide some preliminary data which would be used as the foundation of in-service training programs to be designed on AD/HD. The data were obtained from the proportionately selected research population in Sehitkamil and Sahinbey districts of Greater Gaziantep province. 454 primary school teachers and 15 psychological counselors in 26 primary schools joined the study as subjects in 2006- 2007 academic year. It is hoped that the study would contribute to the literature by creating a general awareness on AD/HD as an administrative problem. The study is important in that it is the first study conducted within the current population on AD/HD; beyond being a complementary part of an ongoing project. A special scale was developed for the study. Reliability and validity of the scale was assured with a reliability coefficient of 0, 61 (by Kuder Richardson 20) and Content Validity Rate of 0, 83. The responses given by the subjects were analyzed by using SPSS 10.0. Mean, independent samples t-test, and frequency were the major tools in statistical analyses. The findings indicate that the primary teachers? and school counselors? level of knowledge about students with ADHD, appears to be insufficient (8, 8 and 9, 40 respectively, over 17) and no statistically significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that general education teachers and school counselors should be offered a comprehensive in-service training on ADHD. Key words: AD/HD, school counselor, primary school teacher