For young men with ADHD, school discipline became a route out — and towards the justice system

Interviews with 21 justice-involved men suggest suspensions, stigma around individual education plans and broken support systems pushed some young people with ADHD away from school rather than helping them stay engaged.

A new qualitative study suggests that for some young men with ADHD, school can become less a place of support than a pathway to exclusion. Drawing on interviews with 21 justice-involved men in Massachusetts, the research found repeated patterns of suspension, special education stigma and weak continuity of support that left many participants feeling pushed away from school rather than helped through it. National data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention show ADHD remains common in US children, which makes the study’s findings especially relevant for families and educators trying to prevent avoidable disengagement early on.

The men interviewed were between 18 and 24 and were enrolled in a programme run by a non-profit organisation serving young men who were out of school and out of work. Twelve had been diagnosed with ADHD, while others had learning disabilities, mental health conditions or no formal diagnosis at all. The study’s authors said most of the participants had experienced some form of school discipline, but those with ADHD described the harshest and most persistent consequences. Their accounts pointed to a system that often responded to behaviour with removal, rather than to need with support.

Many of the young men described individual education plans, or IEPs, as both necessary and humiliating. Some said they felt marked out in class, stigmatised by special education labels and exposed in front of their peers. Others said school support broke down when family circumstances changed or when child welfare involvement disrupted continuity. None reported having legal advocates present in IEP meetings, and several said the process did little to help them stay connected to school in a meaningful way. Their experiences echo wider research showing that ADHD can be linked with academic difficulty and weaker ties to protective institutions.

Discipline was another recurring theme. Participants described suspensions, time spent isolated in administrators’ offices and, in some cases, punishments that appeared to deepen disengagement rather than improve conduct. One young man said he tried to return to school without realising he had already been suspended; another said he was repeatedly told that a future return to mainstream school would be possible, only to find that promise never materialised. The study found that these experiences often escalated into dropout, alternative schooling and a growing sense that school systems were no longer designed to keep them enrolled.

The research also showed how school exclusion and justice-system involvement could reinforce one another. All of the young men had contact with police, and some said arrests followed school-related conflicts such as fights or bullying. Others described being held by police more often than formally arrested. For a few, incarceration brought a sense of structure they could not find elsewhere, underscoring how unstable their lives had become outside custody. The authors argue that this does not make detention beneficial; rather, it shows how thoroughly other institutions had failed to provide the order and support these young men needed.

The study is small and cannot be read as representative of all children or teenagers with ADHD. Even so, it adds weight to a wider concern already reflected in national prevalence data from the CDC and the National Institute of Mental Health: millions of children live with ADHD, and many need stronger in-school support, not faster removal from the classroom. The authors conclude that schools should do more to protect students with ADHD, particularly those already facing discipline, family instability or other disadvantages, because keeping them connected to school may help prevent later involvement with the criminal legal system.