Abstract
This article discusses the meanings of ADHD in the discourse of Pernambuco public and private elementary school teachers. Twenty interviews were carried out and submitted to Discursive Social Psychology analysis, which focuses on the speech in action, its function, effects and argumentative characteristic. The analysis shows that students considered as having ADHD are those perceived as presenting higher levels of physical activity. They are, in turn, classified in psychological or biological categories. Behaviors seen as deviant are explained in terms of contrast between abnormality and normality, and the children's perceived problems are individualized and extracted from the school context. These results thus highlight the barriers to educational inclusion.
Keywords:
ADHD; discourse; deviant behavior; education; social psychology