College Students with ADHD: Current Issues and Future Directions

134 Pages·2013·1.13 MB·English

by  Lisa L. Weyandt

College Students with ADHD

Lisa L. Weyandt (cid:129) George J. DuPaul
College Students
with ADHD
Current Issues and Future Directions
Lisa L. Weyandt George J. DuPaul
Chafee Social Science Center Department of Education & Human Services
Department of Psychology Lehigh University
University of Rhode Island Bethlehem , PA , USA
Kingston , RI , USA
ISBN 978-1-4614-5344-4 ISBN 978-1-4614-5345-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5345-1
Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012948683
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
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To my mother, Margie (LW)
To my parents, Lawrence and Emma (GD)

Preface
Attention-de fi cit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic disorder that affects a
signi fi cant proportion of the child, adolescent, and adult population. Over the past
several decades, hundreds of empirical studies have been conducted to illuminate
our understanding of ADHD as well as identify evidence-based strategies for assess-
ing and treating individuals with the disorder. In addition, many books have been
published to guide health professionals, educators, parents, and individuals with
ADHD in managing this disorder in home, school, and community environments.
Such guidelines have been invaluable in promoting more successful outcomes for
the ADHD population as well as translating research into practice. Unfortunately,
until recently, the challenges and needs exhibited by college students with ADHD
have been relatively neglected in the empirical literature.
Over the last decade or so, increasing numbers of research investigations have
focused on identifying the speci fi c challenges and dif fi culties faced by college stu-
dents with ADHD. Research has been relatively consistent in identifying a myriad
of academic, psychological, social, and occupational de fi cits that characterize the
college ADHD population (Weyandt & DuPaul, 2006). The type and degree of
de fi cit is not surprising given that ADHD is a chronic disorder associated with
impairment across the lifespan (Barkley, Murphy, & Fischer, 2008). The challenges
faced by college students with ADHD, however, are not simply an extension of
those found by individuals with ADHD in general. Because of the unique academic
and social demands of college environments, students with this disorder encounter
dif fi culties that are unique to that setting and time in their lives. Our own research
has been devoted to enhancing understanding of the unique challenges encountered
by college students with ADHD as well as identifying methods to understand,
assess, and treat this population in an effective fashion.
The purpose of this book is to enhance the knowledge, assessment, and treatment
of ADHD in college students. Speci fi cally, we comprehensively review the avail-
able research regarding college students with ADHD and translate this evidence
base into clinical/educational practice. This book is intended to meet the needs of
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health care and educational professionals working with college students with
ADHD. In addition, this book should be helpful to parents and teachers of students
with ADHD. Finally, we hope that students with ADHD will use this book to help
understand their disorder and become effective self-advocates in obtaining evi-
dence-based services.
Kingston, RI, USA Lisa L. Weyandt
Bethlehem, PA, USA George J. DuPaul
Acknowledgments
There are many individuals who assisted us in completing this book. We would like
to thank Matthew Gormley (doctoral student in school psychology at Lehigh
University), Gregory Paquin (doctoral student in school psychology at the University
of Rhode Island), Anna Salatto (undergraduate psychology major at the University
of Rhode Island), and Chelsea Schubart (undergraduate student at the University of
Rhode Island) for their contributions to the development of the text. We are espe-
cially grateful to Mr. Gormley and Ms. Schubart who invested many hours locating
research articles and preparing references for the text. We also thank our collabora-
tors on two seminal research projects discussed in this text including Kristen Carson
(Lehigh University), Sean O’Dell (Lehigh University), Joseph Rossi (University of
Rhode Island), Anthony Swentosky (University of Rhode Island), Genevieve Verdi
(University of Rhode Island), and Brigid Vilardo (Lehigh University). Finally, we
would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the dozens of college students with
ADHD as well as college student disabilities of fi cers working with these students
from whom we have learned a great deal about the challenges and successes faced
by this population.
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