Two New Rating Scales for Assessment of ADHD Symptoms in Italian Preschool Children

Abstract

The low correspondence between teachers and parents shows that ADHD rating scales, although useful screening instruments, are not sufficient for diagnosis and must be combined with other tools.

Working Memory Control Deficit in Kindergarten ADHD Children

“…Based on the outcomes of a questionnaire (see below) and on interviews with the teachers, children with low socioeconomic status, poor intellectual abilities (as measured by the IPDDAI specific control item and, when possible, by Raven's CPM test score), family or other relevant problems, and finally that belonged to foreign communities were excluded from the sample. Children were selected during screening procedures developed in a series of kindergartens in the areas involved in the study, on the basis of scores from a teachers' rating scale (IPDDAI; Gugliata, Cornoldi, & Carretti, 2002), which assesses the presence of ADHD symptoms, and of other information provided by teachers and by families through a different rating scale (IPDDAG; Re & Cornoldi, 2009). Here, IPDDAI and IPDDAG stand for "Identificazione Precoce del Disturbo da Deficit di Attenzione/iperattività per Insegnanti" ["Early Identification of ADHD"] for teachers (Marcotto, Paltenghi, & Cornoldi, 2002) and for parents (Riello, Re, & Cornoldi, 2005), respectively.…”

“…Teachers and parents are invited to rate on a 4-point scale (0-3) the variables mentioned in the questionnaires. English translations of the items of the scales and their psychometric properties were given in previous work (see Re & Cornoldi, 2007, 2009). In particular, IPDDAI ADHD score appears to be highly correlated with the ADHD score obtained with the Conners' scale for both inattention (r = .877) and hyperactivity (r = .842; Trevisi & Re, 2008); furthermore it showed positive correlation with the identification of ADHD symptoms one year later by primary-school teachers (r = .56).…”

Multi-method assessment of ADHD characteristics in preschool children: Relations between measures

“…Even less is known regarding the relations between these measures in preschool children. Given the recognized link between behavior problems in preschool and later elementary school (e.g., Willcutt & Pennington, 2000), efforts to measure effectively ADHD-characteristic behaviors in preschool and use these measures to predict the course of symptomatology have recently increased (Lahey, Pelham, Loney, Lee, & Willcutt, 2005; Re & Cornoldi, 2009). A greater understanding of the tools used to assess ADHD in school-age children is needed for preschool populations.…”

Low Dopamine Function in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Should Genotyping Signify Early Diagnosis in Children?

“…The quest for new and better diagnostic methods includes the work of Re and Cornoldi, 23 who found that despite the “good” psychometric properties of 2 new scales, parent and teacher agreement was poor. Parents endorsed more symptomatic behaviors in their children than teachers, especially for the hyperactive dimension, although they did not necessarily associate the symptomatic behaviors with the presence of a potential problem.…”

“…Re and Cornoldi concluded that the low correspondence between teachers and parents demonstrated that ADHD rating scales, although useful screening instruments, are not sufficient for diagnosis and must be combined with other tools. 23 One example of the importance of combining psychometric testing and other measures, such as QoL, is best exemplified by the work of Escobar et al 24 They found that the subtype of patients with hyperactivity/impulsivity (ADHD-HI) predominance had less disorder severity, fewer comorbid psychiatric disorders, and better quality of life than the predominantly inattentive (ADHD-PI) subtype or the subtype with combined (ADHD-C) symptomatology.…”