Sustained and Selected Attention in ADHD subtypes and LD: A Clinical Comparison

Abstract

Introduction: The goal of this study is to examine whether there are differences in selective and sustained attention between children diagnosed with ADHD and children with LD, thus allowing to establish differences among these groups in several objective measures regarding attention and contributing to differential diagnosis between ADHD and LD. Method: The sample consisted of 437 children who attended a psychology center, of which 234 had ADHD and 203 had LD (in which a diagnosis of ADHD was ruled out). Sustained and selective attention tests (Caras, d2, EMAV, AGL, CSAT and CPT-II) were applied to the participants during their evaluation and descriptive analyses, one-way ANOVAs and planned F tests were performed. Results: The differences between the indicators of the tests used to measure attention sug-gested that children with ADHD have difficulties in performance in selective and sustained attention, and they process information significantly slower. Discussion and Conclusions: The indicators of some of the tests used could be useful to make a differential diagnosis between children with ADHD and LD, and to design a personal-ized treatment intervention for each child.