Use of a verbal fluency measure in understanding and evaluating ADHD as an executive function disorder

A primary characteristic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an inability to establish and maintain sustained attention, which is speculated to reflect frontal lobe involvement. The Knight Verbal Fluency measure was administered to 19 ADHD inpatient boys and to a cohort group of 7 children who were matched for mean age, psychiatric diagnosis (depression), treatment facility, and examiner but were without the diagnosis of ADHD. Analysis indicated that ADHD children performed significantly lower than expected and lower than the similar non-ADHD children. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that frontal lobe dysfunction is involved in attentional process disorders and suggests the potential clinical usefulness in the diagnostic screening of ADHD children of a simply administered measure amenable to interpretation of frontal lobe function.