The purpose of this study was to describe the gross motor and fitness characteristics of children with an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nineteen children with an ADHD, between the ages of 7 years, 0 months and 12 years, 11 months (M = 9 years, 4 months) participated in this study. The 17 boys and 2 girls had IQs between 80 to 100, were not affected by specific learning disabilities, and behavioral problems were the primary reason for acceptance into their clinical center. Children with additional psychiatric diagnoses were excluded. All children were tested individually. Gross motor performance was measured by the Test of Gross Motor Development (Ulrich, 1985). Fitness variables were measured by selected items from the Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness (1986), the Canada Fitness Survey (1985), the CAHPER Fitness-Performance II Test (1980), and The Twenty Meter Shuttle Run Test (Leger et al., 1984). A counterbalanced Latin-Square testing order was used to avoid practice effects. Statistical analysis involved converting raw scores to percentile scores which were graphed to provide individual and group profiles of performance. The present study identified the physical fitness and gross motor performance of these children as below average. / Programming implications and recommendations for future study are provided.

A quantitave study was done on children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders in primary schools. The main aim was to measure IQ and to find out if there are indicators of organicity. The hypotheses of the study were as follows: (i) Children diagnosed with ADHD will obtain lower scores on IQ tests than children not diagnosed with ADHD; (ii) Children diagnosed with ADHD have some form of neurological deficit or organicity The study consisted of a sample 25 children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders and the children who were never diagnosed with the disorder. The sample and the control group range from the age of six (6) to 13 years. Data was collected using Bendor Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Senior South African Individual Scale Revised. Descriptive Statistics. Chi-square Test and Mann-Whitney Test were used to determine the difference between the sample and the control group. The results indicated that there is significant difference between children with ADHD and the control group on both verbal and non-verbal IQ tests. This means that children who were diagnosed with ADHD scored lower on measures •of IQ. The differences may have been due to IQ. or the ADHD group was distracted enough to perform significantly worse on reading. spelling, mathematics, comprehension and written tasks. The results on the Chi-square indicated that there is a relationship between the presence and ADHD and organicity. The findings in this study will aid teachers and parents (especially in African communities), to find out more about the children who they think are just problematic children.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of alternative treatment to Ritalin. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban Westville, 2005.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relative importance of cognitive and neuropsychological measures in the diagnosis of Attentional disorders. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Halstead Reitan Test Battery for Children (HNTB-C) were examined to assess their independent and shared contribution to the prediction of variance of Factor I (Undiscipline/Poor Self Control) of the Personality Inventory for Children.Subjects for this study were 100 9 to 14 year old boys and girls referred to an outpatient psychological assessment clinic. Question 1 examined the ability of the Freedom from Distractibility factor (FD) and the individual scales of the WISC-R to predict variability in the PIC Factor I. Results showed that the FD factor did not predict any variance in Factor I, however, the individual scales of the WISC-R accounted for 14% of variance in Factor I of the PIC. Question 2 examined the variability accounted for by selected tests of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children (HNTB-C) beyond that provided by the WISC-R. It was found that the HNTB-C accounted for 10% of the variability of Factor I of the PIC beyond that found with the FD scale or the individual scales of the WISC-R. The tests of the HNTB-C when examined without the WISC-R accounted for 17% of the variability in the PIC Factor I. Implications for use of neuropsychological measures in assessment of attentional disorders and lack of reliability of traditional cognitive measures were discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

Previous research has identified motor deficits within the ADHD population, and indicates that these individuals are at an increased risk for difficulties relating to their motor development. The present study, which utilized discriminant function analysis, was unable to document areas of motor impairment for individuals diagnosed with ADHD. Specifically, no evidence of motor impairment was identified on tasks of motor coordination, fine motor dexterity, motor speed and grip strength, which measures the integrity of the motor system at the basic output level. Interestingly, results identified that individuals with ADHD were more proficient in their motor abilities than the normative population. Two mitigating factors were controlled for in this study and were found to impact performance on motor tasks. First, higher level thinking skills such as verbal comprehension, attention control, cognitive sequencing, working memory and executive functions appear to be more responsible for documented performance deficits than an underlying motor deficit. Secondly, the high prevalence of comorbid psychiatric and medical disorders, inherent to the ADHD population, appears to negatively impact performance on motor tasks. In general, individuals with only a diagnosis of ADHD consistently outperformed individuals who had been diagnosed with ADHD and comorbid disorders.This study also examined the sensory and subcortical abilities of individuals with ADHD. Results indicate that these children are similar to their same age peers in their visual perception, visual acuity, auditory discrimination and tactile perception. Finally, this study was unable to identify evidence of impairment in the subcortical abilities of ADHD individuals. In fact, individuals with only a diagnosis of ADHD outperformed the control group across a majority of tasks assessing subcortical abilities. Comorbidity also appears to negatively impact performance on sensory and subcortical tasks, especially for individuals with comorbid medical conditions. Overall, results from this study impact the field of research which previously identified motor performance deficits in the ADHD population. Further research is needed to examine the sensory and motor abilities of ADHD individuals to understand the performance abilities of individuals with ADHD. / Department of Educational Psychology

A quantitave study was done on children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders in primary schools. The main aim was to measure IQ and to find out if there are indicators of organicity. The hypotheses of the study were as follows: (i) Children diagnosed with ADHD will obtain lower scores on IQ tests than children not diagnosed with ADHD; (ii) Children diagnosed with ADHD have some form of neurological deficit or organicity The study consisted of a sample 25 children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders and the children who were never diagnosed with the disorder. The sample and the control group range from the age of six ( 6) to 13 years. Data was collected using Bendor Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Senior South African Individual Scale Revised. Descriptive Statistics, Chi-square Test and Mann-Whitney Test were used to determine the difference between the sample and the control group. The results indicated that there is significant difference between children with ADHD and the control group on both verbal and non-verbal IQ tests. This means that children who were diagnosed with ADHD scored lower on measures "of IQ. The differences may have been due to IQ. or the ADHD group was distracted enough to perform significantly worse on reading, spelling, mathematics, comprehension and written tasks. The results on the Chi-square indicated that there is a relationship between the presence and ADHD and organicity. The findings in this study will aid teachers and parents (especially in African communities), to find out more about the children who they think are just problematic children. ii A quantitative study was done on children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders in primary schools. The main aim was to measure IQ and to find out if there are indicators of organicity. The hypotheses of the study were as follows: (i) Children diagnosed with ADHD will obtain lower scores on IQ tests than children not diagnosed with ADHD; (ii) Children diagnosed with ADHD have some form of neurological deficit or organicity The study consisted of a sample 25 children who were diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders and the children who were never diagnosed with the disorder. The sample and the control group range from the age of six ( 6) to 13 years. Data was collected using Bendor Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Senior South African Individual Scale Revised. Descriptive Statistics, Chi-square Test and Mann-Whitney Test were used to determine the difference between the sample and the control group. The results indicated that there is significant difference between children with ADHD and the control group on both verbal and non-verbal IQ tests. This means that children who were diagnosed with ADHD scored lower on measures "of IQ. The differences may have been due to IQ. or the ADHD group was distracted enough to perform significantly worse on reading, spelling, mathematics, comprehension and written tasks. The results on the Chi-square indicated that there is a relationship between the presence and ADHD and organicity. The findings in this study will aid teachers and parents (especially in African communities), to find out more about the children who they think are just problematic children. / M.Soc.Sc. (Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka vilka stöd det finns för barn med ADHD i skolan. Studien bygger på intervjuer med två klasslärare, en speciallärare, två rektorer samt en observation av en elev med diagnosen ADHD. Skolorna i undersökningen har varit en kommunal f-5 skola samt en f-9 friskola. För att belysa detta ämne ur en ny synvinkel har jag valt att undersöka lärarnas erfarenheter av sambanden mellan språkutveckling och ADHD. Intervjuerna visar att lärarna underströk att barn är olika och att man därför måste arbeta utifrån den enskilde individen. Lärarna menar att de inte har sett något samband mellan ADHD och försvagning av den språkliga utvecklingen. Vidare menar även lärarna att elever med ADHD är i behov av struktur och rutiner. Klasslärarna menade dock att detta inte var unikt för elever med ADHD utan att alla elever är i behov av det. Båda rektorerna anser att det är svårt att få ekonomiskt stöd för elever med enbart en ADHD diagnos. Den ena rektorn menade till och med att det är omöjligt. Undersökningen visar att det finns viss avsaknad av kunskap hos verksamma lärare om ADHD samt om kopplingen, som enligt forskare finns, mellan språkförsvagning och diagnosen. Därmed brister även kunskapen om hur man på bästa sätt kan stödja elever som har denna diagnos. Behovet av vidareutbildning är stor framförallt eftersom det ständigt kommer ny forskning inom området.

The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest fiber¹ tract in the brain and connects homological regions of the two cerebral hemispheres. Research with split-brain patients, whose CC has been surgically severed, and neurologically intact groups has shown that the CC is important for sustained and divided attention. Due to its role in attention, the CC is of interest to clinical conditions in which attention is affected, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although the size of the CC has been examined in children and adolescents with ADHD, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, the first of three studies in this thesis synthesized the current research in a metaanalysis, which analyzed the data from 13 studies that examined CC area in children and adolescents with ADHD, when compared to healthy controls. This study found that the splenium, the most posterior region of the CC, was smaller in ADHD and the rostral body, an anterior region, was smaller in boys with ADHD compared with controls. Thus, there is evidence for differences in area in both the anterior and posterior regions of the CC in ADHD. It was not known whether these differences persist into adulthood, however, because CC size had not been examined in adults with ADHD. Therefore, the second study examined CC area and structural integrity in young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), respectively. The difference in the size of the splenium was not present in this adult sample, although the genu (an anterior region of the CC) was smaller and two midposterior regions were larger in adults with ADHD when compared with controls. In addition, a reduction in the integrity of the genu and greater integrity in the splenium was found in ADHD. The relationship between CC morphology and measures of attention and IQ was also examined in young adults with ADHD and controls in order to assess the functional significance of differences in the CC. The integrity of the splenium was correlated with performance on the Stroop task, which requires attentional control. Hence, this study indicated that the morphology of the CC is atypical in young adults with ADHD and that these differences in the CC may impact on cognitive functioning. Interestingly, an estimate of performance IQ was negatively correlated with CC area in controls. This result conflicts with previous research on the relationship between IQ and the CC in healthy adults although the literature has yielded inconsistent findings. The third study, therefore, examined the relationship between IQ and both CC area and integrity in more detail in a larger sample of young adults. A negative correlation was found between the area of posterior regions of the CC and an estimate of performance IQ, while an estimate of verbal IQ was associated with decreased structural integrity in the genu. This study supports the hypothesis that differences in CC size and or integrity may have cognitive consequences. In summary, this thesis confirms the view that the development of the CC is atypical in children and young adults with ADHD. In addition, differences in CC integrity were associated with cognitive functioning in young adults with ADHD. Finally, the morphology of the CC is related to cognitive performance in healthy adults. ¹ American spelling is used throughout the thesis in order to be consistent with the published papers which have been published or prepared using American spelling. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1367349 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2009

The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest fiber¹ tract in the brain and connects homological regions of the two cerebral hemispheres. Research with split-brain patients, whose CC has been surgically severed, and neurologically intact groups has shown that the CC is important for sustained and divided attention. Due to its role in attention, the CC is of interest to clinical conditions in which attention is affected, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although the size of the CC has been examined in children and adolescents with ADHD, the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, the first of three studies in this thesis synthesized the current research in a metaanalysis, which analyzed the data from 13 studies that examined CC area in children and adolescents with ADHD, when compared to healthy controls. This study found that the splenium, the most posterior region of the CC, was smaller in ADHD and the rostral body, an anterior region, was smaller in boys with ADHD compared with controls. Thus, there is evidence for differences in area in both the anterior and posterior regions of the CC in ADHD. It was not known whether these differences persist into adulthood, however, because CC size had not been examined in adults with ADHD. Therefore, the second study examined CC area and structural integrity in young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), respectively. The difference in the size of the splenium was not present in this adult sample, although the genu (an anterior region of the CC) was smaller and two midposterior regions were larger in adults with ADHD when compared with controls. In addition, a reduction in the integrity of the genu and greater integrity in the splenium was found in ADHD. The relationship between CC morphology and measures of attention and IQ was also examined in young adults with ADHD and controls in order to assess the functional significance of differences in the CC. The integrity of the splenium was correlated with performance on the Stroop task, which requires attentional control. Hence, this study indicated that the morphology of the CC is atypical in young adults with ADHD and that these differences in the CC may impact on cognitive functioning. Interestingly, an estimate of performance IQ was negatively correlated with CC area in controls. This result conflicts with previous research on the relationship between IQ and the CC in healthy adults although the literature has yielded inconsistent findings. The third study, therefore, examined the relationship between IQ and both CC area and integrity in more detail in a larger sample of young adults. A negative correlation was found between the area of posterior regions of the CC and an estimate of performance IQ, while an estimate of verbal IQ was associated with decreased structural integrity in the genu. This study supports the hypothesis that differences in CC size and or integrity may have cognitive consequences. In summary, this thesis confirms the view that the development of the CC is atypical in children and young adults with ADHD. In addition, differences in CC integrity were associated with cognitive functioning in young adults with ADHD. Finally, the morphology of the CC is related to cognitive performance in healthy adults. ¹ American spelling is used throughout the thesis in order to be consistent with the published papers which have been published or prepared using American spelling. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1367349 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2009

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-51).