ADHD is associated with deficits in executive function. Stimulant medication is associated with better executive function performance. Prospective follow-up studies are required to examine these effects.

Deficits in executive functions related to spatial working memory do occur in children with ADHD, although the magnitude of these deficits is not related to the child's age or the level of ADHD symptoms. These deficits were not present in the current sample of children who were receiving psychostimulant medication.

Parent Management Training (PMT) has been shown to be an empirically supported intervention in ameliorating antisocial behaviour problems. Less evidence is available to demonstrate the effectiveness of PMT in routine public-health-oriented community-based settings where the presence of comorbid disorders complicates the picture. The current study was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of PMT as a treatment for primary school-age children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and comorbid disorders offered by clinical staff as part of clinical practice. An Australian sample of 94 parents of children diagnosed with ODD by structured interview was provided with eight sessions of PMT. Measures used to assess changes in child behaviour symptoms were the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, the Parent Stress Index Child Domain, and the Child Behavior Checklist. Clinically relevant and statistically significant outcome results were found at posttreatment and at 5 months follow-up. There was a reduction in child symptomatology but no evidence of any effect of comorbidity on outcome. These findings are important for the clinical field as they show that PMT is a robust intervention suitable for routine clinical practice even when comorbid disorders are present in addition to ODD.

The recognition of anxiety and its management in children with ADHD is generally poorly understood. In this particular group of children with ADHD, anxiety may be a side effect of intermediate- to long-term psychostimulant medication and/or a potential marker for a poor response to intermediate- to long-term psychostimulant medication treatment.

The dissonance between the parent report of child anxiety and the child report of anxiety, emphasizes the importance of careful and thorough clinical assessment of the child's perspective. The nature of parent-reported child anxiety and children's self-report of anxiety requires further systematic research.

Attention De®cit Hyperactivity Disorder, combined type, and anxiety have been shown to co-occur in children but speci®c treatments tailored to suit this combination of diagnoses have not yet been reported. This paper addresses the problem from the perspective of clinical practice with a focus on treatment planning and evaluation. Existing work in the published literature is examined. A pilot study designed to explore the suitability of a cognitive-behavioural family-based intervention for use in a child mental health service is presented. The results of the intervention revealed high levels of parent and child satisfaction although there was no change in the level of symptoms. The implications for treatment planning and for future group interventions are discussed with regard to parent psychopathology and the dif®culty in generalising research ®ndings to day-to-day clinical practice.

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