Document Type
Article
Version Deposited
Published Version
Publication Date
9-9-2020
Publication Title
Children and Society
DOI
10.1111/chso.12362
Abstract
Studies of brain size of children classified with ADHD appear to reveal smaller brains when compared to ‘normal’ children. Yet, what does this mean? Even with the use of rigorously screened case and control groups, these studies show only small, average group differences between children with and without an ADHD classification. However, academic textbooks used in the Netherlands often portray individual children with an ADHD classification as having a different, malfunctioning brain that necessitates medical intervention. This conceptualisation of ADHD might serve professional interests, but not necessarily the interests of children.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
te Meerman, S., Batstra, L., Freedman, J.E., Hoekstra, R. and Grietens, H. (2020), ADHD and Brain Anatomy: What Do Academic Textbooks Used in the Netherlands Tell Students?. Children & Society, 34: 136-150.
Comments
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.