The results of a psychological test battery administered to 54 clinic referred children aged 8 to 12 years with attention deficit disorders are reported from the Georgia Children's Center and the Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
The results of a psychological test battery administered to 54 clinic referred children aged 8 to 12 years with attention deficit disorders are reported from the Georgia Children's Center and the Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
The patients were divided into three groups: 1) Those with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity; 2) Attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity; and 3) Control group with internalizing disorders. The verbal and full scale IQ scores on the WISC-R were lower for both attention deficit disorder groups when compared with the control group. The groups did not differ significantly on any of the Nebraska clinical scales which include motor skills, tactile, visual, speech, language, writing, reading, arithmetic, memory and intelligence. Attention deficit disorder either with or without hyperactivity was not associated with neuropsychological dysfunction as measured by the Luria-Nebraska battery. [
COMMENT: The authors admit that although these results failed to support the association of neuropsychological dysfunction with attention deficit disorders, a more focused assessment of frontal lobe development by alternative methods may have yielded different results. A neurological examination with attention to the occurrence of soft or subtle signs may have demonstrated differences in the groups tested and evidence of neurological dysfunction in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder patients. (See Ped Neur Briefs May 1990; 4:40)