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Tim Loboschefski: Research Interests For my part, my research time over the last few years has been taken up by the search for a medically-based tool to help in the diagnosis of Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It is probably no surprise to anyone that ADHD has become one of the most common developmental disorders in childhood (approximately 1/2 of all child referrals involve ADHD issues). It should also come as no surprise that this issue is one which is rife with debate. The major concerns of both parents and practitioners can be broken down into a few common questions: First, is the rate of diagnosis for ADHD consistent with the real rate of ADHD? Second,what are benefits and risks of medicating children for the disorder. And third, what else should we be doing for children or adults diagnosed with ADHD? The research group that I work with (which includes mathematicians, software designers, clinical and developmental psychologists, and medical doctors both from Sweet Briar College and the University of Virginia's Behavioral Medicine Center) have decided to focus on the issue of diagnosis. While the American Psychological Association predicts the rate of ADHD to be about 3-5% of the population, actual rates are much higher (somewhere between 5- 10 % of the population with a diagnosis and on medication). This rate varies from state to state with higher concentrations in the South, the Midwest, and across the country in higher income communities. Given that the nature of the diagnostic tests are at least somewhat subjective (relying heavily on interviews with parents/teachers), it is possible that we are overdiagnosing the disorder. If so, a better diagnostic tool might help ameliorate the situation. This in turn could help ensure that only those with a "real" case of ADHD would be diagnosed and put on medications such as Ritalin or Adderall, and therefore no overmedication of healthy children/adults would occur. Our group has been investigating EEG (electroencephalographic) evidence in search of a medically based diagnostic tool; which we believe would help to eliminate any potential subjectivity in the diagnostic process. Our test, the Consistency Index (or CI), examines the changing wave form of EEG data as individuals engage in a series of tasks with different attentional constraints (such as watching TV, reading a book or doing math problems). It is our belief that one of the greatest problems that ADHD individuals have is in switching between tasks of varying attentional demands (they remain at high or low levels of attention and the brain is not acting as a focused unit when switching). Our work has indicated that the CI might in fact be a tool that can be utilized in the diagnosis of ADHD (especially in conjunction with other ADHD screening measures). We have recently completed a large scale study of children with ADHD and have turned our attention to a similar group of adults. Our thanks to the agencies which have provided funding for our research. These include: The Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, The Commonwealth Health Research Board, Partners for World Health, NASA, and the Sweet Briar College faculty grants committee. |