Differences between subtypes of children with ADHD and simple attentional difficulties during an initial assessment

OBJECTIVE: To examine differences between subtypes of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), simple attentional difficulties and situational ADHD during an initial assessment. METHOD: In a single-centre study examination data of 205 children who had an initial assessment between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. The groups of children were compared with respect to their history features, neuromotor deficits, neuropsychological performance, and comorbid behavioural and developmental deficits by standardized test procedures and questionnaires. RESULTS: Children with ADHD more frequently have a positive family history of attentional symptoms than non-ADHD children. There is no difference between these groups with respect to the associated behavioural problems. Children classified as ADHD show more neuromotor problems and neuropsychological deficits than children with non-ADHD attentional problems. Children with ADHD subtype hyperactive/impulsive demonstrate better neuropsychological performance than children with subtypes inattentive and combined. Children with situational home-only or school-only ADHD show no clear differences in neuromotor behaviour, comorbid problems or neuropsychological performance. CONCLUSIONS: There are clear neuropsychological differences between children who fulfil the classification criteria of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disease, Fourth Revision (DSM-IV) for ADHD and children who are confronted daily with attentional difficulties, but do not fulfil the criteria for ADHD. In contrast, differences in behavioural comorbidities were not found, nor were differences found between home-only and school-only ADHD children.