Assessments for attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADD, ADHD)

A series of tests are performed to determine the child's attentional profile: concentration, mental flexibility, organizational skills, and possible impulsiveness or hyperactivity. Questionnaires also help to understand the difficulties observed at home and at school.

The dimensions assessed during the attention assessment are detailed below. Children with ADD or ADHD may not have difficulties in all of these areas: some children may, for example, have significant attention difficulties, but without problems managing emotions, without hyperactivity, impulsiveness or organizational difficulties. Conversely, other children may, from a neurological perspective, have a good ability to concentrate but significant difficulties in the other areas, each profile being unique across the different dimensions.

Attention - concentration

Children with attention deficit disorder have difficulties that may affect one or more aspects of attention - concentration, such as selective attention (the ability to pay close attention to what is important for the current task or activity, without being too strongly distracted by other thoughts or the environment), divided attention (performing two tasks at the same time), and sustained attention (maintaining attention for a long time). These different forms of attention are tested for different situations, along with the difference between auditory and visual attention.

Impulsiveness

Impulsivity is a difficulty stopping an impulse, as well as thinking before acting. It is frequently observed in children with attention deficit disorder and also concerns non-emotional situations, such as doing work quickly but sloppily, not taking the time to read the instructions before answering a question, or frequently interrupting others.

Hyperactivity

The child has difficulty staying still, fidgets a lot, talks excessively, and is very impatient.

Mental flexibility

Mental flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances or situations. This can apply to intellectual activities (changing instructions, learning a new way to perform calculations, etc.) but also to everyday situations (adapting to unforeseen events, changing plans).

Emotional control

Difficulties in this area may include overreacting to small things and frequent mood swings. The child struggles to control their emotions. Another aspect is the child's awareness and understanding of the impact their emotional reactions have on other people.

Taking initiatives

This is the ability to initiate an activity independently and develop one's own ideas for solving problems. Children with weaknesses in this area, for example, have difficulty getting down to work, even though they would like to be able to, and are more dependent on their environment (parents, teachers), who often have to remind them of their actions.

Organizational skills

Organization is the ability to set goals, anticipate what might happen, and plan the steps to achieve a goal. It also includes the ability to perceive the essential elements in a speech or text, to be able to differentiate them from less important ideas, as well as the ability to organize one's own thoughts to explain something in a structured way, orally or in writing. The organization and order of one's belongings and materials is also an aspect.

Working memory

This concerns the ability of a child to keep several pieces of information in mind, while remaining able to think and reflect at the same time. Working memory is required in a number of daily activities, for example, when the child is asked to brush their teeth after putting away a toy, in the sense that they must not forget to also brush their teeth after putting the toy away. Some children forget, for example, what they were supposed to do while they are working. Working memory is also very required in school exercises, especially in mathematics.