Running Head: Inquiry Brief Fall 2016

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Inquiry Brief Fall 2016

Caitlin Snider
University of South Florida College of Education Level III Intern

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Abstract

This is an inquiry brief on three focus students in the fourth

grade. My wondering is how ADHD medication affects student behavior. To
support this wondering I made three claims and collected data on three
students throughout the entire course of the semester.

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Background:
I am currently a pre-service teacher that is placed in a fourth grade
classroom. The school I intern at is located in Hillsborough County, Florida. While some
parts of Hillsborough are the city, my school sits in the rural area. The demographics in
this area of Hillsborough are strawberry fields, farms, and the houses being more spread
out. There are no large buildings and the closets mall is 15 minutes away. Most of these
kids have parents who work on the strawberry farms or a farm of some sort. There is one
Walmart that is close to the school and a lot of the students come from single parent
families.
My CT has a departmentalized classroom, which means that she only teaches the
students math and science and then they switch to another class to do reading and writing.
In the classroom there is 42 students (20 in one class and 22 in the other). Overall 40% of
the students are white, 33% are Hispanic, 24% are African American, and 2% Asian. I
feel like between all of the students there is a close to even amount of ethnicities, which
makes the classroom diverse.
My Collaborating Teacher (CT) and I created a new seating arrangement the
second month into school. We put islands (individual desks) on the sides and labeled
these the green tables. Then we also added two groups of four tables that are also labeled
as green tables. Next we made a group of six tables and labeled this the yellow table.
Finally we made a table in the back and picked this table to be the red table. The point of
this seating arrangement is that students can go to these desks if they understand the
content (green), if they think they understand it, but are a little unsure (yellow), and if
they do not understand it at all (red).

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While there is not much technology in the classroom my CT does have a Mimio
and uses her laptop to play interactive videos for the students. A Mimio is almost like a
Smart Board. Mimio makes a regular board interactive and has its own set of lessons and
books for the students to use. The students also go to the computer lab once a day to
participate in iReady, a reading program that is used to support students learning based on
their ability and chart their growth. Other than those few things students do not
necessarily have access to technology.
I noticed is that the students have a set of rules called the Three
Rs that they are to follow every day. The Three Rs are Respect (listen
to the speaker, take care of materials, use kind words, use good
manners), Responsibility (finish all your work on time, have all your
materials, keep your area nice and clean), and Right Choices (follow
the Three Rs, help others, and avoid bullying). The Three Rs are a
school wide rule that students are supposed to follow at all times.
Along with the three Rs the students have school wide hand signals
that they have to follow. The School-wide Hand Signals are sign
language for restroom, water, sharpen pencil, line up, and circle time.
The students also have to recite the character pledge which is On my
honor, I promise to attend school and be on time. I promise to give my
best effort, be kind and considerate, keep a positive attitude, and make
good choices everyday as this is the school names Way. One last thing
that the students follow in class is CHAMPS. There are many different
CHAMPS for every place the students go (Outside, Cafeteria, Specials,

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Classroom, Computer Lab, Library, etc.) The students are expected to

follow each step of CHAMPS throughout the day.
One thing that I noticed right away was some of the students
behavior, because they were not following classroom procurers. When
asking both teachers that I was noticing this trend they informed me
that these students were not on their medication. When I asked what
medication they told me the three students were on ADHD medication.
When most people hear the words ADHD medication they immediately
think that the person on them is a zombie. In most cases that is true,
but I noticed a significant difference between the students behavior on
and off the medication. Throughout the next few weeks I started to
take observation notes, behavior logs, and did interviews with the
teachers and students. By documenting their actions while either on or
off their medications I noticed and understood something was different.
One day in class I noticed my one student who normally behaves
acting out in an extreme way. When my CT told me that this student
was taken off his ADHD medication, because he had neurological
damage from it, I knew what I wanted to do my inquiry about.
Purpose:
My purpose for this inquiry was to discover how ADHD medication affects
student behavior. This inquiry is important to me, because it started to affecting my
students everyday life. Not only were students acting like completely different people one
student actually developed neurological damage from the medication. The following

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articles really helped me to dive into this question by not only showing me different
effects of the medication, but also how this affects students behavior. I believe this
inquiry is important, because more and more students are being diagnosed with ADHD
and being placed on medication. As a further teacher it is important to know side effects
of the medication and how it changes students behavior. The articles further taught me
these reasons and how what to expect from these students. The articles below also guided
me into my wonderings.
Article:
Article:

Notes:
Children are over diagnosed

Consequences of ADHD
Medication Use for Childrens

with ADHD.
ADHD is one of the most
common chronic mental

Outcomes

heath problems among

Reference:

Dalsgarrd S., Nielsen, H.S., &

Impulsiveness, Behavioral

Simonsen, M. (2004).
Consequences of ADHD

young children (3-7%).

Symptoms: Hyperactivity,

Problems.
When in pharmacological
treatment at a young age

medication use for childrens

there is a much worse

outcomes. Journal Of Health

outcome than others who

Economics, 37 137-151.

are diagnosed later in life.

Treatment is rarely initiated

until after the age of five.

The study found that
children diagnosed and put

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on medication after 10 did
not have as many long-term
effects as compared to
children put on ADHD
medication before the age

Article:

of 10.
Difficulties found with

The Association of ADHD

single-word, processing

Symptoms and Reading

speed, reading skills, and

Acquisition During Elementary

vocabulary found in children

School Years

with ADHD.
Students with more sever

ADHD tend to have lower

Reference:
Ehm, J., Schmiedek, F.,

reading levels.
Students with long term

Hasselhorn, M., Gawrilow, C. *

ADHD tend to have

Koerner, J. (2016). The

decoding problems and

association of ADHD symptoms

show less growth in reading

and reading acquisition during

skills.
The earlier diagnosed the

elementary school years.

better off the student will be

Developmental Psychology, (9),

1445.

with reading.
If students are diagnosed in
kindergarten with a learning
problems it might help

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prevent them form reading

Article:

problems as well.
Attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder

Effect of Stimulant Medication Use by

(ADHD) is a

Children With ADHD on Heart Rate and

neuropsychological disorder

Perceived Exertion

that is characterized by poor

attention as well as
Reference:

impulsive and hyperactive

Mahon, A.D., Woodruff, M. E., Horn, M.

movements.
In the US approximately 3-

P., Marjerrison, A. D., &Cole, A. S. (2012).

9% of children are estimated

Effect of Stimulant Medication Used by

to have ADHD.
Boys are usually diagnosed

more than girls.

ADHD is often treated by

pharmacological means.
Side Effect of Stimulant

Children With ADHD on Heart Rate and

Perceived Exertion. Adapted Physical
Activity Quarterly 29 (2), 151.

Medication: Increased heart

rate, increased blood
pressure, appetites
suppression, and sleep

disturbances.
Students with ADHD have
diminished motor skill
proficiency, demonstrate

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disruptive behaviors, and
have poor peer and social
relationships.

Questions:
My wonderings are as follow:
1) How does the students behavior and work ethic change when on
ADHD medication?
2) How does the students behavior and work ethic change when off
ADHD medication?
3) What are the long-term effects of ADHD medication?
Methods:
I plan to conduct my inquiry by conducting interviews with teachers and students,
behavioral logs, seating chart, observation notes, and looking at and studying articles.
There were many ways that I collected data on my students. I collected my data
by conducting interviews with both teachers on each student, personal interviews with the
three students, behavioral charts, student work, and observation notes. I took observation
notes throughout the semester and color-coded them based on each student. This way I
could keep the information organized. For the interviews on the students I took them
outside so that they would not be distracted and told them that they did not have to
answer the questions if they did not want to. I recorded the students answers to the
questions in my data collection notebook. For the teacher interviews I kept them in my
data notebook as well. I gave each of the three students a color so that it aligned with the
rest of the data. I asked the both teachers the same questions after school and wrote down

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their answers as they talked. Over the course of two weeks in the class I reordered several
behavioral logs. I took my data notebook everywhere the students went so that I could
watch and record their behavior for that day. I also kept the behavior logs in the same
color order so as to keep it organized with each student. I also re-drew the seating chart
that was implemented that allows the students to pick a color. These students normally
pick red (See interviews, seating chart, notes, and behavioral logs in Appendix).
Timeline:
January

Interview Students
Pictures of Students Work/Products
Behavioral logs
Observation Notes

February

Interview parents
Re-interview teachers
Take pictures of Students Work/Products
Conduct a Second Interview With Students
Observation Notes

March

Continue to Take Behavioral Logs

Take Pictures of Student Work/Products
Conduct a Third Interview With Students
Observation Notes

April

Finalize Putting All Data Together

Final Interview of Students
Behavioral Logs
Pictures of Students Work/Products
Observation Notes

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References:
Dalsgarrd S., Nielsen, H.S., & Simonsen, M. (2004). Consewuences of
ADHD

medication use for childrens outcomes. Journal Of Health

Economics, 37 137-

151.

Ehm, J., Schmiedek, F., Hasselhorn, M., Gawrilow, C. * Koerner, J.

(2016). The

association of ADHD symptoms and reading

acquisition during elementary

school years. Developmental

Psychology, (9), 1445.

Mahon, A.D., Woodruff, M. E., Horn, M. P., Marjerrison, A. D., & Cole, A. S. (2012).
Effect of Stimulant Medication Used by Children with ADHD on Heart Rate and
Perceived Exertion. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly 29 (2), 151.

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