Combining neuropsychological tests to improve the assessment of arithmetic difficulties in children with ADHD

Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria
Angelo R T RezendeErasmo Barbante Casella

Abstract

To compare the ways of evaluating arithmetic skills in Brazilian children with ADHD by combining three validated neuropsychological tests and determining whether they are sensitive to the methylphenidate treatment. Forty-two children (9‒12 years old) participated in the present study: 20 were children with ADHD (DSM-IV) and 22 were age-matched controls. A classification criterion was used for each test separately and one, for their combination to detect the presence of arithmetic difficulties at two time points: baseline (time 1); and when children with ADHD were taking 0.3‒0.5 mg/kg of methylphenidate (time 2). The study also assessed children's subtraction performance, combining parts of these tests. Separately, the tests were only sensitive to differences between groups without medication. However, by combining the three neuropsychological tests, we observed a difference and detected a reduction in arithmetic difficulties associated with the methylphenidate treatment. The same effects were found in subtraction exercises, which require a borrowing procedure. The present study detected arithmetic difficulties in Brazilian children with ADHD and the effects of methylphenidate. Given this improvement in sensitivity, combining te...Continue Reading

References

Apr 15, 2004·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·Stanislas DehaeneAnna J Wilson
Nov 24, 2004·Journal of Child Neurology·Ruth S Shalev
Feb 25, 2005·Journal of Learning Disabilities·Michael C MonuteauxJoseph Biederman
Feb 3, 2011·Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics : JDBP·David C Geary
Nov 20, 2013·Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie·Natalie GrizenkoRidha Joober

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Attention Disorders

Attention is involved in all cognitive activities, and attention disorders are reported in patients with various neurological diseases. Here are the latest discoveries pertaining to attention disorders.