Abstract
Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of methylphenidate on impaired neuropsychological functioning in children with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Method:
The study group consisted of 15 boys between ages 9-13 years, who were refered to our outpatient clinic and had a diagnosis of ADHD. All of the participants were assessed with WISC-R, Visual Memory Span subtest of WMS-R (VMS), Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (BGT), and Stroop Color and Word Test before and 6 months after the methylphenidate treatment. The data of this study was evaluated by SPSS 13.0 package programe for Windows. Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess differences between pre and post treatment continuous variables.
Results:
Posttreatment scores ofWISC-R and VMS did not change compared with pretreatment scores. But the scores of Stroop and BGT significantly changed after the treatment.
Discussion:
Although the small sample size limits the interpretation of these results, our study showed the positive effect of methylfenidate treatment on neuropsychological tasks such as motor coordination, resistance to interference, and the power of waiting answer to inappropriate stimulus
Keywords: ADHD, methylphenidate, neuropsychological evaluation
