Screening measures for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

While performance-based measures have not typically been used by school psychologists in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) assessment, a growing body of evidence suggests that neuropsychological measures may provide valuable diagnostic information as part of a comprehensive evaluation of the disorder. The utility of two neuropsychological measures for use as screening measures in assessing ADHD was examined in the present study. The performance of 29 children with ADHD was compared with that of 96 controls on alternate forms of Trails B and a Figure Cancellation Task. Although a developmental trend was found suggesting increased performance with age, time to complete both tasks was comparable for ADHD and control groups. However, children with ADHD obtained a lower total Figure Cancellation Task score, and more errors on Trails B. These results suggest that accuracy, rather than time, is the best predictor of attentional problems in children