AN ADHD STUDENT IN A DIFFICULT CLASSROOM: WHEN THE CONTEXT MAKES A DIFFERENCE Stefania Pinnelli, Clarissa Sorrentino University of Salento (ITALY) Abstract An evidence highlighted by multiple sources that shows a combination of causes [1] is that nowadays school faces the presence of children and young people with behavioural problems, self-control and emotional difficulties. This last aspect though is expected in children with ADHD, it is also widely diffused in many pupils and it causes behavioural problems and interpersonal conflicts. Studies about emotional literacy highlight how emotional self-regulation skills can be taught and consequently learned, it emphasizes the role of context and learning factors; allocating great importance to strategies to promote the emotional self-regulation [2]. In light of these assumptions, the study describes the systemic action implemented through the network of actors (school, family and the world of research) that have supported a child with ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia, in IV primary. Within a framework of multimodal intervention where behavioural rehabilitation, emotional-relational, educational/didactical and pharmacological intervention were realized with excellent results, the research team carried out also an action in the classroom, defined by teachers and principal as highly problematic. Although the classroom is composed by 16 pupils, in fact, it is a very complex reality which includes strongly disturbing pupils with serious family problems and aggressive behaviours, children with socio-cultural disadvantage and traumatic life events. The instruments used, interviews with teachers, field observations and the Test Of Emotion Comprehension [3] revealed, together with a high emotional competence achieved by the pupil with ADHD, a negative difference for 5 pupils. The test components more problematic for the children were the ninth on the Moral and the component III on Desire. The multimodal nature of the study in the ADHD case, lead to plan an intervention also for the entire classroom group in order to act on the emotional components seen as compromised. Keywords: ADHD, Classroom, Emotion Comprehension, Assessment, TEC. 1 INTRODUCTION Day after day many teachers find themselves facing difficult situations in their classes. Children crying, quarreling among themselves or teasing, interrupting the lessons, creating chaos and disorder, children that do not respect classmates and teachers. There are different opinions about the causes of all this: some traces throughout the collapse of traditional values, others believe that socio-economic changes of the last fifty years were significant [1]. In any case, the demands from teachers and consequently also scientific research are oriented towards the development of strategies that can, even in part, contain the problematic situations, trying to work with children on their hypothetical emotional difficulties. An intervention model of emotional education that is gaining increasing ground in our country is the Rational Emotive Education (ERE), this is a psycho-educational programme that aims to educate the person (adult or child alike) to face their emotional dysfunctions through learning to use and enhance their ability to think constructively and rationally. To summarize, the emotional literacy: − shows that the emotional self-regulation skills can be taught and therefore learned; − emphasizes the role of context and learning factors; − It gives priority to pathways and strategies to promote emotional self-regulation [2]. Goleman’s emotional view of intelligence is "the ability to recognize our feelings and those of others, to motivate ourselves, and to positively manage our emotions, both internally and socially." [4, p.65]. According to the author, the personal component (self-awareness) and the social component (communicative and relational skills) are two milestones on which to base the emotional competence and represent a primary school goal. Among these complementary skills there are included, for example, the ability to motivate oneself and to continue to pursue a goal despite frustrations; the ability to control impulses and postpone gratification; the ability to modulate their moods by avoiding suffering that prevents us from thinking; the ability to be empathic and hopeful [4]. Bearing in mind that the Proceedings of EDULEARN17 Conference 3rd-5th July 2017, Barcelona, Spain ISBN: 978-84-697-3777-4 5375