RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Children with post-injury attention deficit disorder (ADD) exhibit deficiencies in academic functioning, social skills, and self-control, that are comparable to developmental attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The similarities and differences of the two conditions have to be studied because some children with traumatic brain injury have shown premorbid ADD and seem to be less responsive to psychostimulants. METHODS: Characteristics of cognition and attention of post-injury ADD (n=12) and developmental ADHD (n=12) boys were investigated by administering KEDI-WISC and Visual and Auditory TOVA. RESULTS: No differences in KEDI-WISC subtests were found between two diagnostic groups. Post-injury ADD boys show lower commission error (lower impulsivity) in visual and auditory TOVA, and lower variability of reaction time (higher information-processing consistency) in auditory TOVA than developmental ADHD boys (p<0.05, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Post-injury ADD and developmental ADHD are different in their attention components suggestively, which warrants further study for differential diagnosis and proper treatment.