Combining neuropsychological tests to improve the assessment of arithmetic difficulties in children with ADHD

Abstract

Objective: To compare the ways of evaluating arithmetic skills in Brazilian children with ADHD by combining three validated neuropsychological tests and determining whether they are sensitive to the methylphenidate treatment. Methods: Forty-two children (9‒12 years old) participated in the present study: 20 were children with ADHD (DSM-IV) and 22 were age-matched controls. A classification criterion was used for each test separately and one, for their combination to detect the presence of arithmetic difficulties at two time points: baseline (time 1); and when children with ADHD were taking 0.3‒0.5 mg/kg of methylphenidate (time 2). The study also assessed children’s subtraction performance, combining parts of these tests. Results: Separately, the tests were only sensitive to differences between groups without medication. However, by combining the three neuropsychological tests, we observed a difference and detected a reduction in arithmetic difficulties associated with the methylphenidate treatment. The same effects were found in subtraction exercises, which require a borrowing procedure. Conclusions: The present study detected arithmetic difficulties in Brazilian children with ADHD and the effects of methylphenidate. Given this improvement in sensitivity, combining tests could be a promising alternative when working with limited samples.

Instrumentos De Avaliação Cognitiva Em Crianças Com Tdah: Revisão Integrativa De Literatura.

“…Em contrapartida testes muito específicos combinados para alguma habilidade geram sensibilidade no processo, reforçando os resultados, como foi no caso do estudo que analisou dificuldades de aprendizagem aritmética em crianças com TDAH, utilizando três testes para isso. Apesar de individualmente não apresentar diferença entre o grupo clínico e o controle, com essa combinação foram encontrados piores desempenhos no grupo clínico com TDAH não medicado (17) . A pouca sensibilidade individual dos testes pode ser atribuída a ausência de consenso entre pesquisadores nesta área específica.…”