Project PASS

Summary

The overall goal of Project Pass was to determine the effectiveness of an assessment-based, school intervention package (e.g., instructional modifications) in improving the academic achievement of elementary school-aged children with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Project PASS collected data on 167 elementary school children meeting research criteria for ADHD. All students were in first through fourth grade at the beginning of the project and participation ranged from 1 to 3 semesters dependent on teacher agreement. A total of 204 teachers across 52 schools participated in the study.

General Findings

• Children with ADHD do benefit from academic interventions beyond improvements found with behavioral treatment or medication.
  • Most of the interventions utilized in Project PASS were:
    • Done by teachers or peers
    • 15 to 20 minutes in length
    • Scheduled 2 to 3 times a week
• Project PASS included interventions for such areas as reading fluency, reading comprehension, math fluency and math problem solving
  • Case studies for sample interventions and a listing of many of the interventions used can be found in the resources section below.

 

• Consultation can lead to academic interventions delivered with relatively high integrity in both General and Special Education Classrooms.
  • Two levels of consultation were evaluated in this project. Both groups included:
    • A first meeting
      • Information about ADHD in the schools was given to the teachers.
      • The process of the project was explained.
    • A problem identification interview
      • Consultant and teacher worked together to identify what subject area(s) should be targeted
      • Goals for the intervention were set.
    • A Problem Analysis Interview
      • Teacher chose from a menu of interventions provided by the consultant
      • Consultant and teacher worked collaboratively to determine necessary resources, time when intervention would take place, and how often it would occur.
    • Consultants were available to teachers throughout participation to answer any questions or discuss concerns.
  • One group also included more frequent interactions with the teacher and monitoring of progress
    • For a more detailed description please view the Archived Description of Teacher Expectations
  • Teachers found both the process of consultation and the interventions to be acceptable and beneficial to their students.

Recommendations

• Use academic interventions that are supported by research.
  • The Resource List provided below is a compilation of the most common interventions used in Project PASS. At least one reference has been provided for each intervention.
• Choose interventions based on the need of each student.
  • Determine the problem area of the each individual student and set goals.
  • Choose an intervention designed to directly target the identified problem area.
    • For example, students having difficulty with reading fluency should be provided with an intervention that directly targets reading fluency.
    • The resource list below has been organized by target area for this reason.
• Monitor the progress of each student.
  • Although the level of monitoring necessary is unclear from the results of this project, monitoring the progress of each student will allow for changes to be made sooner for a student who is not making progress

Resources

• Promoting Academic Success in Students with ADHD
  Rosemary E. Vile Junod, Mark C. Mannella, Lizette M. Flammer, Katy E. Tresco, George J. DuPaul, & Asha K. Jitendra

  Adaptation of a presentation given at the 2004 Pennsylvania State School Psychololgy Conference. Includes sample case studies for selected interventions and references for the most common empirically supported interventions used in Project PASS.

• Resource List

  Listing of interventions commonly used in Project PASS. Interventions are listed by area (i.e. reading fluency) and at least one reference has been provided for each.

Return to Project PASS Home