Ratings of hyperactivity and developmental indices: should clinicians correct for developmental level?

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Hyperactivity is a core symptom in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• Assessing hyperactivity in children with cognitive delays presents unique challenges.
• Developmental indices like chronological age and mental age are often considered in evaluations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between hyperactivity ratings and developmental indices in children.
• To compare these relationships in general clinical and developmental clinic samples.
• To determine the relevance of chronological age versus mental age in hyperactivity assessments.

Main Methods:

• Collected parent and teacher ratings of hyperactivity in two child samples.
• Analyzed correlations between hyperactivity ratings and chronological age, IQ, and mental age.
• Utilized statistical methods to control for chronological age effects.

Main Results:

• Significant negative correlations between chronological age and hyperactivity severity were found, primarily in the developmental clinic sample.
• Mental age showed limited significant correlation with hyperactivity ratings, especially after controlling for chronological age.
• Chronological age emerged as a more consistent factor than mental age in hyperactivity symptom severity.

Conclusions:

• Chronological age is an important consideration when evaluating hyperactivity in cognitively delayed children for ADHD.
• Current guidelines suggesting the use of mental age for norm selection in these evaluations are not supported by the findings.
• These results emphasize the need to account for developmental progression in ADHD assessments for children with cognitive impairments.