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

• Autor(a) principal: REZENDE,Angelo R. T.
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: PACHECO,Sandra P., BRANCO,Sulamy C. C., FERNANDES,Rosangela D. C., BOLDRINI,Carla R., DORIA FILHO,Ulysses, BAZÁN,Paulo R., AMARO JUNIOR,Edson, REED,Umbertina Conti, CASELLA,Erasmo Barbante
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2020000400193
• topic: math test; arithmetic difficulties; learning disabilities; ADHD; methylphenidate

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.