PADDS History and Development
One of the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorders referred to mental health clinicians is ADHD. It is a complicated neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder and has an estimated range of occurrence of 2 to 3 percent of the school population and up to 10 percent in other settings. Thus, on average a minimum of at least one child with ADHD and executive functioning disorders is in each classroom in American schools. (Reddy et al.) (Rowland, Leswesne, & Abramowitz, 2002) indicated that prevalence rates for ADHD vary markedly based on presenting symptoms, different assessment approaches used, and the various settings in which the child was tested. A lack of a consensus on what constitutes the core set of symptoms for ADHD complicates and confounds the screening and assessment process (Brown, 2002).
Due to these concerns regarding prevalence rates of ADHD, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP, 2000) and the National Institute of Health (NIH, 1998) have stressed the need to develop new standardized, evidence-based assessments that have strong psychometric properties, and are easily administered in schools and other clinical settings. The major considerations guiding the development of the PADDS is integrating an updated construct of ADHD assessment, while focusing on ways to enhance diagnostic accuracy in an efficient manner. Clinical testing of the PADDS Target Tests of Executive Functioning was conducted on one of the largest samples of age specific, ADHD and non-ADHD subjects collected, with 725 children (240 females and 485 males) age 6 to 12 years (M = 8.63, SD = 1.72) split approximately evenly between those diagnosed with ADHD (n = 395) and age matched Non-ADHD/ Typical peers (n = 330). Data were collected in seven states from a total of 10 data collection sites. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the overall project was established through Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. All research sites included specialty ADHD assessment centers, each with independent IRB oversight, in Illinois, Georgia, Idaho, New Jersey, Tennessee, California, and Florida. Pedigo, Pedigo & Scott (2008).
Read more about this topic: Pediatric Attention Disorders Diagnostic Screener
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