title: Validating a self-report screen for ADHD in early adulthood using childhood parent and teacher ratings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This article evaluates the diagnostic utility of a self-report screening tool for adults based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) ADHD criteria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children with speech/language (S/L) impairment and typically developing controls had ADHD symptoms rated by parents and teachers at ages 5 and 12. At age 19, participants completed the Adult Attention Problems Scale (AAPS), an 18-item screen. Receiver operative characteristic curve analyses were used to assess the efficiency of this instrument in screening for ADHD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AAPS had moderate sensitivity and high specificity, but only for adults without a history of communication disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The AAPS provides clinicians with the only self-report scales for ADHD in adulthood, validated with childhood ADHD symptoms assessed by multiple raters. However, scale characteristics were poor for the S/L-impaired cohort. Given the overlap between language impairment and ADHD, adult ADHD measures validated in S/L-impaired samples are needed.
authors: University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. eb_brownlie@camh.net
authors: E B
authors: EB
authors: Brownlie
authors: Kim
authors: K
authors: Lazare
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Beitchman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult