Elementary School Teachers’ and Counselors’ Decisions on Referring Students for Evaluation: The Impact of ADHD Traits, Achievement, and Giftedness

The present study examined the effect of ADHD-related traits, academic-achievement level, and giftedness label on elementary school teachers’ and counselors’ referral recommendations for assessment. 532 teachers and counselors were presented with one of 12 vignettes describing a hypothetical pupil. Participants were asked to report the likelihood they would refer the pupil for ADHD diagnosis and address them during a high-level interdisciplinary school-team meeting (HISTM). High ADHD-related traits (effect size 0.359) and low academic-achievement (effect size 0.070) and their interaction were significantly related to a higher likelihood of referral. Further analysis revealed that lower academic achievement was related to a higher likelihood of referral only when ADHD-related traits were not indicated (p <.005). The status of giftedness label was not found to be significant (p >.05). These findings indicate that mainly ADHD-related traits and, to a lesser degree, low academic-achievement influence teachers’ decisions to refer pupils for ADHD diagnosis and address them in HISTM.