Abstract:

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children. At present, the traditional (offline) educational rehabilitation model for children with ADHD has encountered problems, such as ineffective academic support, teachers’ low participation, and unsecured school management and incapability to serve in special circumstances (such as epidemic situation). Based on the neurocognitive training (NCT)the study aims to build an online model of educational rehabilitation for children with ADHD in China and then undertake preliminary application. This study is divided into three sub-studies: Study 1 is to investigate the current situation of educational rehabilitation of Chinese children with educational rehabilitation and analyze the needs of these children and their key stakeholders (parents and teachers). Study 2 is to evaluate the effectiveness of NCT based on the educational rehabilitation online model by using a randomized controlled single blind test (50 in the intervention group and 50 in the control group). Study 3 aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the online model participated by intervention agents (parents or teachers), and their acceptance of the online model by key stakeholders. It uses a randomized controlled test with a larger sample size (n = 100 in each group) in three intervention groups (parent interventionist group / teacher interventionist group / control group) × two ADHD groups (diagnosis group / sub diagnosis group). The purpose of this study is to provide an effective and easy-to-use form of educational rehabilitation for children with ADHD in China.

One of the features of this study is that it focuses on solving the actual needs. It starts not only from the symptoms of ADHD, but also from the needs of children and their key stakeholders. It recognizes a practical educational rehabilitation program on two foundations: first, the program is effective. Secondly, the key stakeholders have an intention to use it. The second feature of this study is that it is not only different from the over reliance on procedural training in western research, but also different from the previous combination of medical and education in China. Rather, it considers the academic achievement of children with ADHD as a combination of cognitive ability and noncognitive factors (such as interpersonal interaction and sustainable management).The innovations of this study are as follows: 1) realizing the training process, sustainability and consistency through the utility of computerized program and platform operation, as well as, giving online rehabilitation teachers and intervention agencies a certain degree of freedom to improve, adjust or supplement the existing procedural training. Realizing mutual support between human-computer interaction and interpersonal interaction. 2) Combining the cognitive training with Chinese school teaching and family education to realize the problem-solving idea of "solving problems in the environment where problems occur". 3) Utilizing the key stakeholders (parents and teachers) as intervention agencies, and to train, supervise and support them through procedures and rehabilitation teachers online. 4) Taking the improvement of executive function as the initial goal, and academic performance and the satisfaction of the key stakeholders as the eventual goal.

Key words: children with ADHD, neurocognitive training, educational rehabilitation, online learning