The effects of differentiated homework on the attitudes of students with ADHD towards homework

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of homework prepared based on the differentiated education approach on the attitudes of the students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder towards doing homework by collecting opinions of the parents and teachers of these students. In the research, action research technique of the qualitative research techniques is used to analyse the opinions of the participants. The participants of the research consist of 5 students with ADHD diagnosis in 3rd and 4th grade from a private primary school in Sakarya, Adapazarı; their parents and homeroom teachers. The findings of the research reflect that, thanks to the differentiated homework prepared according to their interests, prior knowledge and learning styles, the students with ADHD develop a positive attitude towards the importance and benefit of homework, and that they could focus more on their homework and could complete it in a shorter time with less assistance, and gained metacognition about how best they can learn by knowing more about their learning process. It was recorded that the parents and the homeroom teachers of the students also developed a positive attitude towards the importance and the benefit of homework and stated opinions supporting the findings described above. As a result, it was noted that these students with ADHD, their parents and homeroom teachers affirmed positive opinions and developed a positive attitude towards differentiated homework prepared individually for these students. It is concluded that, further research on differentiated instruction and differentiating homework to observe the effects of differentiated instruction on the several aspects of learning and teaching processes, could effectively increase the education quality of especially the students with ADHD. Keywords: ADHD, differentiation, homework, individualization