School Entry Plays an Insignificant Role in Attention Performance, Impulse Control, and Motor Activity of Same-Aged Children from Preschool and Elementary School

Abstract. The transition from preschool to elementary school places demands on children to pay attention, control their impulses, and avoid fidgeting. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated whether these characteristics are influenced by elementary school entry. The current study compares same-aged preschool and elementary-school children regarding their attention performance, impulse control, and motor activity. A total of 60 children (30 preschool and 30 elementary school; 6 years old) underwent the Quantified Behavior (Qb) Test. The children’s parents responded to a conventional questionnaire for measuring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. We found that formal schooling (mean: 3 months) did not significantly affect the examined variables ( p > .05). The results imply that improvements in questionnaire and computer test scores shown by previous studies are rather caused by maturation than the educational context. The assumption that inattention ratings increase after school entry because inattention can be better observed in an academic setting could not be verified either. Our study substantiates that the normative data used in clinical practice need not consider the educational context.

Download Full-text

Mental Retardation and ADHD!

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.89.2.351 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 89 (2) ◽

pp. 351-351

Author(s):

ROBERT G. VOIGT ◽

GRAEME H. JOHNSON ◽

FRANK R. BROWN

Keyword(s):

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Mental Retardation ◽

General Practitioner ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Motor Activity ◽

Attention Deficit ◽

Impulse Control ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Effective Medication

To the Editor.— This letter cautions the general practitioner about prescribing methylphenidate to children with mental retardation, despite the reported utility in nine patients.1 Methylphenidate is understood to be an effective medication for treatment of children who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by a developmentally inappropriate attention span, level of impulsiveness, and motor activity. For the general practitioner, ADHD typically is identified in children with normal neurodevelopment. Because children with mental retardation may have attention spans, impulse control, and activity levels inappropriate for their chronologic age, albeit appropriate for their underlying level of cognitive function, we are concerned about the general practitioner's ability to identify ADHD in children with mental retardation.

Download Full-text

Effect of training impulse control on increase attention of children with attention – deficit/ hyperactivity disorder

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.222 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 983-987

Author(s):

Kambiz Poushaneh ◽

Bagher Ghobari Bonab ◽

Farzaneh Hasanzadeh Namin

Keyword(s):

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Attention Deficit ◽

Impulse Control ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Training Impulse

Download Full-text

Effect of Children’s Weight Status on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior during Physical Education, Recess, and After School

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm9082651 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 2651

Author(s):

Zachary C. Pope ◽

Charles Huang ◽

David Stodden ◽

Daniel J. McDonough ◽

Zan Gao

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Elementary School ◽

Physical Education ◽

Sedentary Behavior ◽

Body Mass ◽

Weight Status ◽

After School ◽

Healthy Weight

Children’s body mass index may affect physical activity (PA) participation. Therefore, this study examined the effect of children’s weight status on underserved elementary school children’s PA and sedentary behavior (SB) throughout the segmented day. Participants were 138 children (X¯age = 8.14 years). Children’s height and weight were measured with subsequent classification of children as healthy weight or overweight/obese. Durations of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), light PA (LPA), and SB during physical education (PE), morning recess, lunch recess, after school, and overall were assessed via accelerometry over three days. Independent t-tests evaluated differences in children’s MVPA, LPA, and SB during each daily segment by weight status. Significantly higher MVPA was observed for children of healthy weight status versus children with overweight/obesity during morning recess, t(136) = 2.15, p = 0.03, after school, t(136) = 2.68, p < 0.01, and overall, t(136) = 2.65, p < 0.01. Interestingly, comparisons of children of healthy weight status and children with overweight/obesity’s LPA and SB during the after-school segment revealed a trend wherein children with overweight/obesity participated in slightly greater LPA/less SB than children of healthy weight status. Higher MVPA was observed among children of healthy weight versus children with overweight/obesity during most daily segments. Concerted efforts should focus on increasing MVPA among children with overweight/obesity.

Download Full-text