LD Blog

In a study that received some national press coverage, Professor Lee Kern and colleagues reported the results of a study designed to assess the benefits of (a) parent education aimed at teaching parents how to tailor behavior management procedures to the needs of individual children with ADHD in comparison to (b) parent education that addressed general issues in child development and parenting. Although they discuss the improvement of the children in the two groups, they did not find significant differences between them on a wide array of measures.

Recent research suggests that symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may begin to emerge in children at a very young age. Given that early onset is associated with more deleterious outcomes, early intervention is imperative. In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness of two different interventions with children aged 3-5 years. A multicomponent intervention combined parent education and individualized assessment-based intervention in home and preschool or day care settings was compared with a parent education intervention consisting of parent education alone. Both interventions resulted in significant improvements measured by standardized assessments of behavior and preacademic skills. There were no significant differences between the intervention groups 1 year postintervention. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

The study is entitled “Multisetting Assessment-Based Intervention for Young Children at Risk for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Initial Effects on Academic and Behavioral Functioning” and, in addition to Professor Kern, the authors are George J. DuPaul, Robert J. Volpe, Natalie G. Sokol, J. Gary Lutz, Lauren A. Arbolino, Mary Pipan, John D. VanBrakle. It appeared in School Psychology Review, issue 36, number 2 in June 2007. There is more about the project available from a news release by Lehigh University, where several of the authors are on the faculty. There are links to videos of Professors Kern and DuPaul discussing the research.

Press coverage is available from USA Today (Easy non-drug help aids ADHD kids) and CNN (Some techniques to help 3- to 5-year olds with ADHD).