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Understanding ADHD
This free course, Understanding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), explores the experience of ADHD from the perspective of those who are diagnosed with the condition, and those who care for them. It covers the contribution of scientific
research to understanding ADHD, with a focus on assessing the effectiveness and mechanism of action of treatments and therapies.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- define key terms in the field of ADHD research
- describe the characteristics of ADHD and how they are used in diagnosis
- describe the patterns of prevalence of ADHD, including the reasons for disparities worldwide
- describe the risk factors and brain changes associated with ADHD
- outline key approaches to managing ADHD, with reference to their scientific evidence base.
First Published: 02/03/2021
Updated: 02/03/2021
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However, I was disappointed to see how outdated the videos and statistics used were. The videos used to describe the experience of childhood ADHD included depressing/scary music which I believe only contributes to the false narrative that ADHD is something to be scared of or that it is the worst possible thing that could happen to a child and should be pitied. There are challenges that come with having ADHD and the consequences of impulsive behaviours are real, however, there are some benefits and I would have liked to have seen more of this mentioned rather than it all being negative.
When I did the Understanding Dyslexia course with Open Learn, I really liked that it included information about the social model of disability. It struck a really good balance between acknowledging difficulties and recognising strengths. In this course however, I was disappointed to see the words “symptoms” and “disorder” used a lot which I feel encourages the medical model of disability (as opposed to the social model of disability) which can be harmful. I would have preferred the word “traits” rather than “symptoms” to have been used.
Something that struck me was in some of the sections, ADHD is referred to a number of times as a mental health condition – this is untrue. It is a neurodevelopmental condition (and I was pleased to see this mentioned in other sections including the summary). I would like this to be mentioned in all of the sections and for the section about ADHD being a mental condition to be removed.
I would also like there to have been more coverage about how ADHD manifests in adults. I understand that the course can only cover so many things but seeing as it has now been 6 years since the course was made, I feel that there may be key information about adult ADHD that could now be included (even if included in one or two sections). I feel this would really benefit all learners.
On the whole I would say that whilst I learnt some really useful things, I am disappointed by the content in the course and would like to see some changes to it going forwards.