[Effects of methylphenidate in auditory processing evaluation of children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the performance of a group of children and adolescents diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) pre and post-methylphenidate use in a behavioral auditory processing test battery (AP).

Method: Twenty-nine subjects, male and female, ranging from 7 to 15 years old have undergone different behavioral auditory processing tests. A control group composed of 29 subjects with and without learning disabilities was also evaluated.

Results: The group with ADHD had a performance similar to the control group without learning disabilities which improved after medication. The group with learning disabilities and without ADHD had the worst performance in tests while the group without learning disabilities and without ADHD exhibited the best ones.

Conclusion: The AP battery was unable to distinguish ADHD patients from paired controls; the use of methylphenidate improved the performance on AP tests of ADHD group in the post-medication evaluation.