ADHD Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about ADHD, including details on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, drugs, treatment, symptoms. | ||||||||
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ADHD subtypes: do they differ in their executive functioning profile?Geurts HM, Verté S, Oosterlaan J, Roeyers H, Sergeant JA Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.m.geurts@uva.nl The present study was designed to investigate the hypothesis that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder combined subtype (ADHD-C) have a generalized executive functioning (EF) [Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioural inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of AD/HD. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 65-94; Barkley, R. A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: The Guilford Press]. We tested whether ADHD-C and ADHD inattentive subtype (ADHD-I) can be differentiated from each other on EF measures. We compared 16 normally developing boys with 16 boys with ADHD-C and 16 with ADHD-I on five EF domains. The boys were all matched on age, IQ, and the presence of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)/conduct disorder (CD). Despite carefully diagnosed groups and methodological controls, the results do not support the EF-hypothesis of ADHD-C. Children with ADHD-C differed from normal controls (NC) on tasks related to inhibition; they did not exhibit EF deficits on all EF tasks. Children with ADHD-C also exhibited deficits on non-EF tasks. Furthermore, the ADHD-C and ADHD-I subtypes did not differ from one another. Neuropsychological findings on the domains under study did not yield evidence for the distinctiveness of ADHD-C and ADHD-I subtypes. Published 17 May 2005 in Arch Clin Neuropsychol, 20(4): 457-77.
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