For the past 25 years, a team of researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University, led by Joyce Sprafkin, PhD and Kenneth Gadow, PhD, have been publishing rating scales to measure the symptoms of ADHD and associated psychiatric disorders in children, adolescents, and adults.
A report on their most recent instrument—a brief symptom inventory filled out by teachers that can be used to measure the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions—was published in the April, 2011 issue of the Journal of Attention Disorders. Richard Mattison, Jayne Schneider and John V Lavigne (from Northwestern University) joined Drs. Sprafkin and Gadow in conducting the research and analysis.
In the article, titled A Brief DSM-IV-Referenced Teacher Rating Scale for Monitoring Behavioral Improvement in ADHD and Co-Occurring Symptoms, the authors demonstrate the instrument’s reliability, validity and usefulness. A study of a companion measure for parents was published in 2009 in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.
The authors conclude that the 28-item rating scale provides a practical and reliable way to assess changes in the symptoms of ADHD as well as distinguishing symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and major depressive episode, and that the measure can be used to monitor the treatment effectiveness for children and adolescents with ADHD between the ages of 3 and 18.
