Parents’ Perceptions of Online Education for Their Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic causes the sudden shift to the online educational provision in Saudi Arabia that prompted a slew of concerns, including difficulties meeting learning objectives and widening social disparities. As online education greatly influenced the academics of pupils, especially in case of a child suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Due to parents believe that they are unable to support their ADHD children with virtual learning due to a lack of understanding. The aim of the present study was to understand the importance of parents' perspectives in order to reveal the views of parents with ADHD in Saudi Arabia regarding teacher interaction with pupils or parents, assessment of homework and examination during distance learning in COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected through a questionnaire which was reviewed by some experts in this field. The result showed that there were no statistically significant differences among responses of parents of the pupils with ADHD according to their background information (gender, age, marital status) towards teacher’s dealing with pupils with ADHD within virtual classes. Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences at level (0.05) among the responses of parents of the pupils with ADHD according to (academic qualification) towards teacher’s dealing with virtual classes. It is expected that the present study will be useful to lead classroom teachers to good treating for ADHD pupils and their parents to their duties and teacher duties. Consequently, it may help the teachers to adopt new strategies or teaching styles that can help in decreasing their failure in schools and can also help in improving the relationship between school and home for ADHD pupils.