Inattentive ADHD (ADHD PI) and Class Size

Inattentive ADHD (ADHD PI) and  Class Size

ADHD Inattentive kids do better if class size is small
Class size makes a difference for kids with ADHD Inattentive
Children with ADHD Inattentive (ADHD PI) and all the other types of ADHD are common in today's classrooms. Today’s average class size of 30 children is likely to have between 4 and 12 children with ADHD Inattentive, ADHD combined type, Autism or some other learning disability.

Ten percent of children in the classroom will fit a diagnosis of Inattentive ADHD (ADHD PI), Combined type ADHD and Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD and up to three percent of children will fall on the Autism spectrum. Other learning disabilities including dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing and visual processing disorders will round out the mix of learning disabilities and the impact that these numbers have on the education of all our children is staggering.

Individualized Instruction is the answer for ADHD Inattentive

I believe that for children with ADHD Inattentive, small class sizes are imperative and I am a huge fan of a class size of less than 15 students. The studies performed on the benefits of having less children in the classroom have been somewhat mixed. What seems to be clear from the studies, however, is that in areas where there is likely to be a high percentage of children with learning disabilities, small class sizes make a huge difference.

The benefits of having my ADHD Inattentive (ADHD PI) child in a smaller class make intuitive sense to me. Children who learn differently require individualized instruction. If you are a teacher and forty percent of your children need individualized instruction, there is no way your or any teacher, no matter how fabulous, will be able to do your job in the classroom.

When the class size is smaller, my opinion is that a class of less than 16 is perfect, the teacher will have time to instruct everyone in his or her class. The public school system where I live used to have an average class size of about 14 kids per classroom. Some classes had 16 others 12 but overall the classes were small and the teachers were able to get to know every child well. Individualized instruction flowed naturally in these classrooms and kids with learning disabilities and kids that were gifted academically both excelled.

As important as the performance of the students was the fact that teachers loved teaching in these classrooms.
Today it is difficult to find a happy public school teacher. Budget cuts have forced teachers to teach a test driven curriculum in over crowded classrooms. It is a no win proposition for the teachers but it is the students that will suffer the most.

One of one teaching for ADHD Inattentive
Kids with ADHD Inattentive respond well to one on one teaching.

The majority of parents of children with ADHD Inattentive cannot afford to send their children to private schools. These children do especially poorly in situations where teachers are stressed to the max. The state of our schools is bad for all our children but it is the children with learning disabilities, Inattentive ADHD and other types of ADHD who will suffer the most from education budget cuts that make class sizes bigger and instruction less individualized.


  1. Those of us that cannot afford to put our kids and smaller classroom private schools are stuck. What choices do we have? I feel as though we don't have choices and it's disheartening to know my child will be" left behind" . My daughter doesn't qualify for special education help because she " only" have 1 learning disability not two. Frankly it makes me angry that there so little help for children with a dd or adhd because our education system doesn't feel it's an important enough disability to require help


  2. I was about to echo what Britt said - with the public schools under such intense economic pressure these days, class sizes are just getting bigger and bigger. Even kids that are for the most part normal can get overwhelmed in the midst of such huge groups!

  3. To Britt:
    I don't think that a school system can limit a child to only one disability. Has your child been medically diagnosed with ADD? How are your child's grades? What is child's frustration level? etc.... I believe that you as a parent can request an evaluation of your child. The school syst. then has 30 to 60 days to either evaluate your child or give you a reason for not evaluating. ALL at their expense!! You may need to contact your school board/district office. I've been dealing with this type of frustration since 2004 for my son. You can look at your state's dept of education webpage and also look at

    Praying and believing for you,


