Donna Ford is a professor of special education at Vanderbilt University.

More than any other group, black males are identified (and misidentified) as having A.D.H.D. Frankly, black males in special education are as common as apple pie and ice cream. Professionals, lay people and parents have become very comfortable and complacent with concluding that children who are vervistic -- physically demonstrative, tactile and kinesthetic -- and easily distracted require a label, medication and special education classes or services. Boys in general are given this label more than girls.

When we have white female teachers who don't understand their black male students, who is the 'problem'?

I beg to differ with the people applying this label so freely. Of course, a small number of students from all cultural, racial and gender groups do have A.D.H.D. needs. However, I am convinced that the pervasiveness of this label is a product of prejudice and discrimination -- intentional by some, and unintentional by others. Either way, too many black males are inaccurately labeled as having A.D.H.D.

This long-standing and complex problem needs equitable attention and change, and ought to be critiqued through at least two lenses – gender and culture. Consider this: Most teachers (some 75 percent) are female, while most students labeled (and mislabeled) as having A.D.H.D. are male. Females tend to be less tolerant of physical activity than males.

Added to this gender issue is culture. What is viewed as a disability in one culture may not be viewed as such in another culture. Most teachers are not only female, but also white (85 percent). Yet, slightly more than 40 percent of students in our schools are now culturally or racially different. To make matters worse, too few teachers receive formal and substantive training to work with culturally and racially different students; thus, stereotypes run rampant.

We end up with white female teachers working with black male students. So who is the “problem” when it comes to subjective labels of what is normal or abnormal? No wonder A.D.H.D. appears so prevalent in the United States.

We need guidelines for the A.D.H.D. diagnosis, and they must consider gender and culture. Once we acknowledge and own this issue, we can do what is professionally and morally right for students diagnosed and misdiagnosed with A.D.H.D. We all suffer when students are misdiagnosed.