To enrich our conception of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it is
necessary to take a wider orientation to this disability category than has been advocated
traditionally. Over the past decade, there has been an emerging conception of ADHD
from a sociocultural perspective, and this orientation, when linked to the traditional
biomedical perspective, provides a more accurate and authentic construct of ADHD.
In this article, we advocate that speech-language pathologists approach ADHD with
a mindset that is open to the complexities of context-bound human functioning at all
levels. Four sources of data demonstrating the richness of the sociocultural orientation
are presented and clinical implications are detailed
KEYWORDS
ADHD - complexity - sociocultural perspective
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Jack S DamicoPh.D.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Lafayette, LA 70504-3170
P.O. Box 43170
Email: jsdamico@louisiana.edu