Do Labels Matter? Pre-service Teachers' Acceptability of the Daily Report Card for Students with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

This study examined teacher acceptability of an evidence-based intervention (Daily Report Card; DRC) based on the presence or absence of the label of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder within a vignette describing a student with the same description of behaviors. Participants included pre-service teachers whose anticipated setting was elementary or secondary education. These participants read a vignette with an ADHD label present or absent and then provided ratings (IRP-20) that contributed to the acceptability of the DRC. The ADHD label had no difference on the acceptability of the DRC. However, there was a main effect of the anticipated setting (elementary, secondary) and the acceptability score of the DRC, where secondary pre-service teachers found the DRC to be a less acceptable intervention than elementary pre-service teachers. Overall, the study found the presence of an ADHD label did not have an impact on acceptability of the DRC intervention, and overall the DRC was an acceptable intervention to pre-service teachers except for secondary pre-service teachers when the label was absent.