ERIC Number: EJ1012754
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Mar
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9630
EISSN: N/A
Commentary: Persistent Time Estimation Deficits in ADHD? From Developmental Trajectories to Individual Targets for Intervention--Reflections on Doehnert et al. (2013)
Holtmann, Martin
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, v54 n3 p271-272 Mar 2013
In this commentary, Martin Holtmann, discusses Doehnert and colleagues' article in this issue (Doehnert et al., 2013). Holtmann comments that the article illustrates the value of longitudinal electrophysiological and experimental approaches to disentangle different pathways underlying the phenotype of ADHD, and points out that their contribution is a unique first electrophysiological follow-up of ADHD children as young adults. An initial idea in which direction research might proceed is introduced. Doehnert and colleagues moved a step further than previous EEG research has gone so far because their results underscore that ADHD is both a disorder of delayed maturation and deviation, showing different developmental trajectories for different impairments. The following questions are asked: (1) How are the symptoms in a given child related to different degrees of executive, motivational and timing impairments; and (2) How can treatment decisions be guided by a better understanding of this intra individual constellation? Holtmann suggests that another challenge will be to study the variation and development of executive dysfunction, motivational deficits and timing in individual patients (or at least in distinctive subgroups of children following specific neuro-developmental pathways), and to examine whether promising targets of treatment and the clinical course can be predicted by neurocognitive and electrophysiological markers. As early as at the time of a first diagnosis of ADHD in a child, parents and patients want to know how his or her symptoms will evolve in the future. Clinicians would like to get guidance regarding impairment-specific targets for interventions in individual patients. Holtmann concludes his reflection by saying that larger scale longitudinal studies applying advanced statistical tools are urgently awaited to answer these questions.
Descriptors: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Longitudinal Studies, Children, Neuropsychology, Time, Child Development, Cognitive Processes, Therapy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers; Reports - Descriptive
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Language: English
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