| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a multi-faceted disorder that results in poor sustained attention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity (Barkley, 1997). The assessment of ADHD is best accomplished through a comprehensive assessment process that includes direct observation, behavioral rating scales, structured interviews involving the child, parents/home, and school, as well as, cognitive and intellectual assessment instruments. Cognitive and intellectual tests can measure working memory, inattention, and sequential reasoning which have been shown to be negatively impacted by ADHD (Barkley, 1997, Reddy & DeThomas, 2006). The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5;Roid, 2003a) is a popular and widely used cognitive assessment tool. To date, no studies have assessed the use of the SB5 with a school aged ADHD population. This study examined the usefulness of the SB5 in discriminating between school-aged children with ADHD and those in a matched control sample. The sample included a total of 188 children matched on age, gender, race and socioeconomic status (measured by parent's educational level). The children's mean age was 10.2 (SD=3.1) and ranged from 5 to 18 years. The racial breakdown of the sample was 70% Caucasian, 17% Black/African-American, 10% Latino, 2% mixed race and 1% other. The parents were primarily college educated (56%). The FSIQ, VIQ, NVIQ, ABIQ, four of the five factors, and seven of the ten subtests of the SB5 were significantly lower for the children with ADHD than for the controls. The discriminant function analyses revealed that the most effective model for the SB5 was using the 5 Factors or ten Subtests in a discriminant model, resulting in overall correct classification (OCC) of 71%. ROC curves were calculated from the discriminant functions and indicated area under the curve (AUC) values for the five Factor and ten Subtest discriminant models of .76 and .78 respectively. The results of this study were consistent with existing literature on ADHD and cognitive testing for children with ADHD. |
