Use of the restricted academic task in ADHD dose-response relationships

Behavioral assessment techniques have been shown to make a significant contribution in the evaluation of stimulant medication response in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This article examines the role of a behavioral measure consisting of standardized observation of a child while he or she performs an academic-like task (Restricted Academic Task). This technique is reliable and valid for repeated administrations across medication dosages and placebo. It can assist in optimizing medication dosage for individual children, given its sensitivity to dosage effects. It also allows the capture of medication-related changes in an area of functioning that is not directly assessed by parent and teacher judgments and ratings. In this way the Restricted Academic Task may have greater ecological validity than the results of other, more traditional in-clinic measures. Finally, given the idiosyncratic nature of stimulant medication effects on individual children, it contributes to the explication of a specific child's behavioral dose-response relationship.