Abstract

CAMPOS, Lúcia Galvão do Amaral; GOLDBERG, Tamara Beres Lederer; CAPELLINI, Simone Aparecida  and  PADULA, Niura Aparecida de Moura Ribeiro. Characterization of the performance of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in operational tests: case studies. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2007, vol.24, n.75, pp. 218-228. ISSN 0103-8486.

The study aimed to characterize the performance of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in operational tests. Six children participated in the study, from both genders, belonging to the age group 8-12 years, attending Elementary School, with interdisciplinary diagnosis of ADHD. Two operational tests were conducted: Conservation of Continuous and Discontinuous Quantity, which are part of Piaget's Clinical Examination, during at least four sessions. The analysis was based on the responses and justifications given by the patients. All the patients gave, in most cases, non-conservative answers and were classified in the pre-operational stage of development. The results suggest that the operational tests favored the analysis of cognitive structures. The application of the tests and the analysis of the answers enabled to establish, in the assessed children, the level of development of the logical cognitive structures of conservation of quantity, not only directing the professional team's view towards the cause of difficulty in the logical reasoning of those patients, but also favoring the problematic investigation and the choice of conduct. Furthermore, no compromise of the cognitive structure was observed. The tests proved to be an assessment instrument which contributed not only to the diagnosis, but also as an auxiliary tool for the professional who intends to follow up children with ADHD.

Keywords : Learning; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; diagnosis.

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