Aspects of attention and inhibitory control are associated with on-task classroom behaviour and behavioural assessments, by both teachers and parents, in children with high and low symptoms of ADHD. Issue 2 (17th February 2020) - Johnson, Katherine A.
ABSTRACT: There is often weak association between performance on cognitive tasks and the behavioural symptoms of ADHD. One possible reason is the use of rating scales rather than direct observations of behaviours. This exploratory study used well established measures of attention and response inhibition with both direct observation and behavioural rating scales to examine these associations. Twenty-two children (mean age 9.6 years) identified by their teachers as displaying high levels of ADHD symptoms, and 22 matched controls (mean age 9.8 years), completed the Fixed and Random Sustained Attention to Response Tasks (SART). Their on-task classroom behaviour was assessed using the ASEBA Direct Observation Form (DOF). ADHD symptoms were also assessed using the Conners 3 Short Form and the SWAN. Children with high symptoms of ADHD performed the SARTs with more errors of commission and were more variable with their responding, and spent less time on-task in the classroom than controls. Performance on the Fixed SART was not associated with on-task classroom behaviour; in contrast three Random SART measures, commission and omission errors, moment-to-moment variability, were negatively associated with on-task classroom behaviour. There were strong associations between the commission error counts on both SARTs and the Teacher SWAN scores, and one of the Parent SWAN scores. The Teacher SWAN scores were associated with on-task classroom behaviour; the Parent SWAN scores were not. These findings provide preliminary evidence of an association between cognitive measures of inhibitory control and some measures of inattention, and both observed behaviour and the ADHD behavioural symptoms.