The usefulness of frontal lobe (FL) dysfunction as a conceptual model for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was investigated. Twenty-four ADHD and 24 normal control (NC) children were tested using tasks sensitive to FL deficits in motor control and problem solving skills and memory tasks sensitive to temporal lobe (TL) dysfunction. ADHD children differed significantly from NCs on measures of FL function, but not on tests of TL functions. Wherever norms were available for normal children on the same FL tests, ADHD subjects performed like 6 to 7 year olds, in spite of their mean age of 10 years and minimum age of 8 years. The differential performance of ADHD children on tasks sensitive to FL and TL damage supports the conceptualization of ADHD deficits as analogous to FL dysfunction and implies that deficits are not explained by reference to generalized impairment.

Integral (holistic) and separable (analytic) processing were studied in ADD-H and normal children using restricted classification tasks composed of separable dimensions and triad/tetrad combinations. In Studies One and Three classifications of ADD-H children and controls were compared on size/brightness and length/density combinations. In Study Two classifications of four age groups of normal subjects (mean ages 5-3, 7-9, 11-1 years and adults) were compared on size-brightness combinations. ADD-H children demonstrated significantly fewer separable responses than normal controls only on the tetrads. Normal subjects showed a developmental trend towards differential separable responding to size as compared to brightness. ADD-H children appear to show a lag of about two years on this developmental trend. Results suggest that ADD-H children resort more readily than normals to integral responding under increased processing load. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive deficits of ADD-H children and current theories of perceptual differentiation.

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.

College students may feign symptoms of ADHD to gain access to stimulant medications and academic accommodations. Research has shown that it can be difficult to discriminate malingered from genuine symptomatology, especially when evaluations are based only on self-report. The present study investigated whether the average student given no additional information could feign ADHD as successfully as those who were coached on symptoms. Similar to Jasinski, Harp, Berry, Shandera-Ochsner, Mason, & Ranseen (2011) and other research on feigned ADHD, an extensive battery of neuropsychological, symptom validity, and self-report tests was administered. Undergraduates with no history of ADHD or other psychiatric disorders were randomly assigned to one of two simulator groups: a coached group which was given information about ADHD symptoms or a non-coached group which was given no such information. Both simulator groups were asked to feign ADHD. Their performance was compared to a genuine ADHD group and a nonclinical group asked to respond honestly. Self-report, neuropsychological, and effort test performance is discussed in the context of the effect of coaching and regarding its implications for ADHD evaluations.

This study examined the recall of televised stories for younger (4-6 years) and older (7-9 years) children with and without ADHD under two different viewing conditions (toys present/toys absent). Each child watched two Rugrats television programs, once with toys present and once with toys absent. Immediately after viewing a program, the child completed a free recall of the observed story. Nonreferred childrens recall increased more than ADHD childrens as importance level increased, and older nonreferred children recalled more information overall than older children with ADHD. For the toys condition, children with ADHD had smaller correlations between the story units recalled and the order of these units in the story than did nonreferred children. Children with ADHD demonstrated multiple difficulties in story comprehension. They were less sensitive to thematic importance and they produced less coherent recalls than their nonreferred peers.

Three questions were investigated in the current study. First, do children with ADHD have language deficiencies in comparison to non-referred peers? Second, are there diagnostic group differences in parent and child storytelling when interacting in a joint picture-book setting or in parent reported home literacy habits? Third, are these differences related to child language scores? Parents of 25 children with ADHD and 39 comparison children, average age 7 years 6 months, told their children a story based on a wordless picture-book, and children then retold the story to an examiner without using the book. In addition, children made up two of their own stories and completed a standardized test of receptive and expressive language abilities. Children with ADHD demonstrated an expressive language deficiency compared to the non-referred children, but there was no group difference in receptive language scores. Parents of children in both groups told stories of similar length and complexity, as well as affective and responsive quality. However, for the ADHD group but not the comparison group, more positive and responsive parents told stories on a lower grade level. The length of the childs retell of the parents story did not differ across groups but children with ADHD told shorter stories when asked to make up their own stories without the external structure or salience of visual cues. Further, there were no significant group differences in the relations between parent storytelling and child language scores. The implications of these findings for understanding parent and child storytelling and language abilities of children with ADHD are discussed.

Children with ADHD perform more poorly in school than comparison children. Although many factors may play a role in this academic deficit, story comprehension deficits have been identified that reveal difficulties with higher cognitive processes. This study investigated how effectively children with ADHD formulate story representations when given little or no story structure. The production of goal-based stories was the major focus. Children with ADHD and comparison children created a story when no story structure was provided (free story) and when some story structure was provided (4-picture story). The stories were measured for coherence, use of goal-attempt-outcome (GAO) sequences and goal-based story grammar categories. Children with ADHD had difficulty structuring a story and utilizing a goal plan in both story tasks. The provision of story structure reduced some group differences. These results supplement evidence of problems among children with ADHD in using goal plans to formulate story representations.

Academic difficulties are well-documented among children with ADHD. Exploring these difficulties through story comprehension research has revealed deficits among children with ADHD in making causal connections between events, and using causal structure and thematic importance when recalling stories. Important to theories of story comprehension and implied in these deficits is the ability to make inferences. Often, characters’ goals are implicit and explanations of events must be inferred. The purpose of the present study was to compare the ability of 7- to 11-year-old children with ADHD and their comparison peers to make inferences during story comprehension. Children watched two televised stories, each paused at five points. In the experimental condition, at each pause children told what they were thinking about the story, whereas in the control condition no responses were made during pauses. After viewing, children recalled the story. Several types of inferences and accuracy of inferences were coded. Children with ADHD generated fewer of the most essential inferences, accurate coherence inferences, than did comparison children, both during story processing and during story recall. The groups did not differ on production of other types of inferences. Generating fewer coherence inferences has important implications for story comprehension deficits in children with ADHD.

The current study examined the efficacy of various neuropsychological measures for differentiating ADHD and comorbid ADHD from malingered ADHD in a large state university sample. The sample consisted of 23 nonclinical individuals assigned to malinger ADHD (NLM), 9 nonclinical individuals responding honestly (NLH), 22 individuals with diagnoses of ADHD only (ADHD-H), 9 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Learning Disorder presentations (ADHD-LD), and 13 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Anxiety presentations (ADHD-ANX). Due to limited sample sizes, the ADHD-LD and ADHD-ANX participants were pooled to create a comorbid ADHD group (ADHD-CO n = 22). The study utilized a simulation design with a NLM group instructed to feign ADHD while the other groups responded under standard instructions. The TOMM, LMT, NV-MSVT, and CTIP variables performed well, but the DMT did not. The WAIS-IV and WJ-III variables did not adequately differentiate malingered and comorbid ADHD.