Abstract
The present study examined the effect of ADHD-related traits, academic-achievement level, and giftedness label on elementary school teachers’ and counselors’ referral recommendations for assessment. 532 teachers and counselors were presented with one of 12 vignettes describing a hypothetical pupil. Participants were asked to report the likelihood they would refer the pupil for ADHD diagnosis and address them during a high-level interdisciplinary school-team meeting (HISTM). High ADHD-related traits (effect size 0.359) and low academic-achievement (effect size 0.070) and their interaction were significantly related to higher likelihood of referral. Further analysis revealed that lower academic achievement was related to higher likelihood of referral only when ADHD-related traits were not indicated (p < .005). Status of giftedness label was not found to be significant (p > .05). These findings indicate that mainly ADHD-related traits and to a lesser degree low academic-achievement, influence teachers' decisions to refer pupils for ADHD diagnosis and address them in HISTM.