Born Naughty: How do understandings of gender and class function in negotiating the boundaries of normality in discourse concerned with ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with 'abnormal' patterns of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Rates of ADHD diagnosis have been increasing rapidly, with boys up to four times more likely to attract a diagnosis (Timimi 2005). In the UK, diagnosis is more prevalent in children from poorer economic backgrounds, and in children who underperform in education (Southall, 2007). In contrast, in America, diagnosis is more pronounced in white middle class communities where children of both genders perform above the national average for educational attainment (Hart, Grand and Riley, 2006).
This discrepancy in diagnosis raises questions regarding the status of 'normal' behaviour, allowing us to query whether these behavioural difficulties are biological conditions that objectively 'exist'. In trying to problematise the current growth in ADHD diagnosis, I propose to focus on the social processes within which actions and characteristics are rendered meaningful through diagnostic categories in both the UK and America.
Disability Studies has demonstrated that impairment categories are socially produced (Campbell, 2013). Studies of education have also demonstrated that the operation and enforcement of specific rules and expectations in the classroom shape what counts as 'normal' behaviours (Singh, 2008). Introducing gender to the analysis of ADHD is central to understanding why boys are diagnosed more readily. This research project will seek a deeper understanding of how behavioural difficulties, lack of academic success and particular kinds of status-seeking masculinities are performed and understood in classroom settings, thereby constituting the 'problem of ADHD'.

Research Questions
How do medical and educational professionals come to understand and identify particular behaviours as elements of a diagnosis of ADHD?
How do understandings of class and masculinity function in negotiating the boundaries of normality in discourse on ADHD?
How do these understandings operate in an American and UK context?
How are these discourses legitimised through legislation on educational policy and practice?
What are the implications for managing 'the problem of' ADHD in the classroom?

Methodology
I will answer these questions through semi structured interviews with mental health care professionals, educational psychologists, and teachers in the UK and America. I aim to situate ADHD within the context of the discursive practice of experts and examine which understandings are present in how people describe ADHD and its causes.
Analysis will allow consideration of the conditions which make it possible to diagnose a child as having ADHD, and how the gendered subject positions made available to labelled children are shaped by discourses concerned with assessment of behaviour. Currently I work in the behaviour unit of a large high school and have previously worked with professionals involved with the assessment of behaviour. This will enable me to gain access, and mean I can work closely with practitioners to maximise the impact of the work.
Timetable
MA 1: Complete MA, conduct pilot research.
Year 1: Write literature review, secure ethical clearance, arrange access to school for fieldwork and secure funding for fieldwork in America.
Year 2: Collect data, transcribe field notes and begin analysis.
Year 3: Complete analysis and write up.
References
Campbell, T. 2013. Dyslexia: The Government of Reading. UK: Palgrave Macmillan
Hart, N., Grand, N., and Riley, K. 2006. Making the Grade. In: D. Rosenfeld and C. Faircloth, eds. 2009. Medicalized Masculinities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Singh, I. 2008. ADHD, Culture and Education. Early Child Development and Care, 178 (4), pp. 347- 361
Southhall, A. 2007. The Other Side of ADHD. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing
Timimi, S. 2005. Naughty Boys: Anti- Social Behaviour, ADHD and the role of Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan