MANY ADHD care providers for children report school coordination gaps, with training and barriers shaping support.
ADHD Care and School Coordination
Coordination between healthcare providers and schools may strengthen ADHD diagnosis and treatment, but this new U.S. survey suggests that such coordination remains inconsistent across clinical practice. Using data from 1,047 child-serving primary care providers who completed the Fall 2023 DocStyles ADHD survey module, researchers examined how often providers communicated with schools and what factors were associated with stronger school coordination.
Providers were grouped into three levels of school coordination: no school communication, use of school information without direct coordination, or school intervention coordination. Overall, 20.5% of providers reported no school communication, 55.8% used school information without direct coordination, and 23.7% reported school intervention coordination. Pediatricians were least likely to report no school communication, while nurse practitioners most often reported school intervention coordination.
Barriers Shaping ADHD Care
The study showed that provider and practice characteristics, barriers to diagnosis and treatment, and training needs were all significantly associated with the level of school coordination. Providers offering school intervention coordination more often reported barriers such as lack of knowledge, ongoing training needs, family resistance to evaluation, concerns about stigma, and problems accessing treatment. In contrast, providers who reported no school communication most often cited discomfort with ADHD evaluation and inadequate training after completion of their degree. Providers who used school information without direct coordination were the group most likely to say they did not need additional ADHD training.
These findings suggest that low coordination does not simply reflect lack of interest. For some clinicians, foundational skills in ADHD evaluation may still be a key obstacle. For others already coordinating with schools, more advanced support may be needed to help manage the practical and family-level barriers that arise in real-world ADHD care. This is an inference based on the study’s reported pattern of barriers and training needs.
Implications for Clinical Practice
The authors concluded that efforts to improve ADHD care should address barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and communication with schools, while also tailoring support to different provider needs. A uniform training approach may be less effective than one that distinguishes between clinicians needing core ADHD education and those seeking more advanced tools to coordinate care across healthcare and school settings.
Reference
Claussen AH et al. Providers of ADHD Care for Children: Factors Associated With Coordination of ADHD Services With Schools. J Atten Disord. 2026;10.1177/10870547261433741.
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