Individually administered intelligence tests are a routine component of psychological assessments of children who may meet criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning disorders (LD), or emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). In addition to providing potentially useful test scores, the individual administration of an intelligence test provides an ideal opportunity for observing a child’s behavior in a standardized setting, which may contribute clinically meaningful information to the assessment process. However, little is known about the associations between test scores and test session behavior of children with these disorders. This study examined patterns of test scores and test session observations in groups of children with ADHD, LD, EBD who were administered the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5), as well as in control children from the SB5 standardization sample. Three hundred and twelve children receiving special education services for ADHD (n = 50), LD (n = 234), EBD (n = 28) and 100 children selected from the SB5 standardization sample were selected from a data set of children who were administered both the SB5 and the Test Observation Form (TOF; a standardized rating form for assessing behavior during cognitive or achievement testing of children). The groups were then compared on SB scores and TOF scores. Associations between test scores and TOF scores in children with ADHD, LD, and EBD and normal controls were also examined. The results of this investigation indicated that children with ADHD, LD, and EBD and normal control children differed on several SB5 and TOF scales. Control children scored higher on all of the SB5 scales than children with LD, and scored higher on many of the SB5 scales than children with ADHD and EBD. Children with EBD demonstrated the most problem behavior during testing, followed by children with ADHD. Children with LD were similar to control children with respect to test session behavior. In addition, several combinations of test scores and test session behavior were able to predict diagnostic group status. Overall, the results of this investigation suggest that test scores and behavioral observations during testing can and should be important components of multi-informant, multi-method assessment of children with ADHD, LD, and EBD.

Excessive gross motor activity is currently considered a ubiquitous and disruptive feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between activity level, attention, and working memory. The current study investigated whether, and the extent to which, particular forms of gross motor activity are functionally related to children’s attention and phonological working memory performance. Objective observations of children’s gross motor movements and attention by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n = 29) and typically developing children (n = 23) completed multiple counterbalanced tasks entailing low and high phonological working memory demand. The tasks were then sequenced hierarchically to reflect the lowest to highest activity level condition for each child. Results revealed that (a) ADHDrelated phonological working memory performance deficits are moderated by increases in intraindividual activity level, (b) heightened activity level impacts performance independently of changes in observed attention, and (c) increases in particular forms of movement (foot movement and out-of-chair movement) contribute to greater phonological working memory performance within the context of attentive behavior. The findings collectively indicate that phonological working memory deficits in children with ADHD are associated with an inability to up-regulate motor activity to facilitate optimal task performance, and that behavioral treatments targeting reductions in certain forms of hyperactivity may have unintended consequences on working memory functioning in ADHD.

Att identifiera problemet är avgörande i behandlingen av ungdomar med normbrytande beteende, men för många av de bedömningsinstrument som används saknas utvärdering. När det gäller beteendeobservationer under en längre behandlingsperiod, tycks det vara särskilt ont om kvalitetssäkrade instrument. Det övergripande syftet för denna uppsats är att undersöka beteendeobservationer som utvecklats inom en longitudinell studie (Behandlings- och resultatuppföljning, BRU) vid SiS’ ungdomshem Stigby, och om dessa lämpar sig för att bedöma de inskrivna elevernas relevanta risk- och skyddsfaktorer och hur dessa förändras under vårdtiden. Undersökningen inkluderar 40 pojkar på Stigby i åldrarna 16-20 år. Resultatet består av två delstudier, där del ett undersöker instrumentets psykometriska egenskaper. De första analyserna av beteendeobservationerna visar att 21 av de 24 områdena är lämpliga för att mäta förändring över tid. Del två i resultatet undersöker förändring över tid under behandlingen på Stigby. På samtliga områden noteras att bedömningarna av problemets allvarlighetsgrad har minskat. Den föreliggande studien visar att beteendeobservationerna bör kunna ligga till grund för de utfallsmätningar som planeras i den longitudinella studien två och fem år efter avslutad behandling. / Identifying the problem is crucial in the treatment of adolescents with rule-breaking behavior, but many of the instruments used has not been evaluated. In the case of behavioral observations over an extended treatmentperiod, there seem to be especially short on quality assured instruments. The overall aim of this paper is to investigate the behavioral observations that have been developed in a longitudinal study (Treatment and monitoring performance, BRU) at SiS’ institution Stigby, and if these are suitable for measuring the clients relevant risk and protective factors and how they change during the treatmentperiod. The survey includes 40 boys in Stigby aged 16-20 years. The result consists of two sub-studies, where part one examines the instrument's psychometric properties. The first analysis of behavioral observations show that 21 of 24 areas are suitable for measuring change over time. Part two of the results examines changes over time during treatment at Stigby. In all these areas it is noted that the assessments of problem severity has decreased. This study shows that behavioral observations should form the basis of the outcome measures that is a part of the longitudinal study two and five years after treatment.

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