OPUS Spring 2017
Letter from the Editor
Staff Articles
- Managing Mental Health in the Primary Care Sector
- An Interview with Dr. Joshua Aronson
- An Interview with Dr. Elise Cappella
- Childhood Emotional Abuse and Borderline Personality Disorder
- Split: A Review and Its Unexpected Merit
- The Influence of Leadership Style on Individuals’ Satisfaction on Small Teams
- The Impact of Postpartum Depression on the Mother-Child Relationship
- Don’t Worry, But Don’t Just Be Happy
- Teachers’ Use of Positive and Negative Feedback: Implications for Student Behavior
The Effects of ACTIVATE on Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Faculty Mentor | Dr. Anil Chacko
Approximately 5-7% of children in the United States are diagnosed with ADHD and of these, 25-40% of children have co-occurring reading problems (Horowitz‐Kraus, et al., 2014). Their co-occurrence and poor outcomes may be due to similar roots in underdeveloped executive functions (i.e., EF: higher order neurocognitive processes that help people solve problems to support goal directed behaviors; McGrath, et al., 2011). Neurocognitive interventions, which strengthen EFs, may be a possible treatment for those with ADHD and reading problems (Bental, et al., 2008). Thus, the purpose of this research was to explicitly explore the influence of ACTIVATE, a neurocognitive intervention, on symptoms of ADHD and reading. Eleven participants, ages 7-10, participated in ACTIVATE, which aimed to strengthen EF domains associated with ADHD and reading. Participants played a total of 1600 minutes. Parent reports of child symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity as well as child assessment of reading and EF were measured pre/post the ACTIVATE intervention. The research questions included: 1) Does ACTIVATE improve children’s ADHD symptoms; 2) Does ACTIVATE improve reading in children with ADHD, and 3) Does ACTIVATE improve EFs in children with ADHD? Analysis suggests that for the general population of ADHD children, the data does not strongly support the use of ACTIVATE. Future research needs to further examine whether a subpopulation of children with ADHD reliably improve after using ACTIVATE. Overall, this study had implications for research and practice, as it has the potential to make salient interventions that may have sustained and widespread effects on children.