Attention deficits in adolescents with ADHD and other clinical groups

Adolescents with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD were compared to adolescents with other psychiatric disorders and to a control group on aspects of attentional functioning. IQ was covaried in the analyses. The ADHD group performed significantly more poorly than did comparison groups except on the Stroop test, where all clinical groups showed reduced resistance to interference. On the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test and the Letter Cancellation Task the adolescents with ADHD were markedly poorer and could not develop appropriate strategies to cope with the task demands. It is argued that the concept of the Supervisory Attentional System (SAS; Shallice, 1991) has heuristic value in understanding the persisting attentional problems of individuals with ADHD.