Generating an inclusive bilingual classroom with ADHD students at elementary school using ICT

Iliana Alderete Muñuzuri, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico, ID LLCE2018-392;     Abstract: According to a research carried out by INEGI in 2017, in Mexico, there are roughly 39.2 million of children and teenagers, and 1.5 million of them could be diagnosed with ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), although, almost 70% of them don’t receive a treatment or specific attention. This number implies that on average every classroom will contain a child with ADHD, it suggests that teachers, parents and peers needed to be trained with intervention strategies in order to be positive role models for them, and to promote the children’s abilities in school and in life.

The problem was that teachers do not feel fully trained about the interventions for students diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Teachers tend to associate behavioral problems with factors not associated with ADHD, such as: (a) the child’s personality, (b) home environment, (c) attitude, and (d) discipline, and therefore teachers feel frustrated as their standard teaching practices don’t work, and by not knowing intervention strategies in order to train the children to manage their condition.

The main probable origin of this unsuccessful training is caused because the universities considered as macro universities (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, BUAP, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, UAS, Universidad de Guadalajara, UdeG, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, UANL, Universidad Veracruzana , UV, Instituto Politécnico Nacional , IPN, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas , UAT) don’t contemplate education for students with special needs as an important or required subject in English teaching major.

The primary aim was to determine the effectiveness of using different technology tools, apps and devices that can be applied by teachers in an inclusive bilingual classroom in order to decrease off-task and disruptive classroom behavior in children with symptoms of ADHD. This research also pretends to emphasize the need of specific training for teachers about the technological resources they can take advantage to help ADHD students to make them feel included in the English classroom.