Knowledge and attitudes of high school pupils towards peers' attention deficit and learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate pupils' knowledge and attitude s in the areas: of attention deficit and hyperactivity (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD). One hundred and four high school pupils in Holon (Israel ) were interviewed and anonymously completed a questionnaire on these condi tions. Pupils' knowledge on the topic of ADHD was low (62%); they showed a better knowledge about LD (75%). They showed a partially tolerant attitude (62.7%) towards pupils suffering from ADHD; on the other hand, they had a s omewhat more positive and perceptive attitude (74.1%) towards peers diagnos ed as learning disabled. Pupils' attitudes became more perceptive with incr easing age. There was no correlation between pupils' knowledge and attitude . Pupils had learned about these two handicapped conditions from various so urces; TV (66.3%), newspapers (63.5%) and school (53.8%), while physicians and nurses occupied the 5th and last place. Information about these two dis abilities (ADHD and LD) should be added to the curriculum and be taught by qualified specialists, as there is an obvious statistically deficient knowl edge in these areas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights rese rved.