Identifying Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder with the WISC-R and the Stroop Color and Word Test

Abstract

Twenty-nine children with a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) were compared to a group of 21 emotionally disturbed (ED) children and a control group (CO) of 20 nonproblem children. The meaures used in the comparison were the 12 subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT). The results showed that the CO group was superior to the ADHD and ED groups and that the ED group performed better than the ADHD group on most of the variables. A stepwise discriminant function analysis showed that similar WISC-R subtests differentiated between the ADHD group and the ED and CO groups. Two measures of the SCWT helped in discriminating between the ADHD and ED groups, but not between the ADHD and CO groups. The authors discuss the meaning of these findings and their contribution to better understanding of the ADHD group, its specific cognitive processing, and its problems.