Master's Theses

Department

Advanced Education Programs

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

This study investigated the change in a subject's affective, academic achievement, and psychomotor behaviors prior to and after treatment with Ritalin. The subject of this study was a 12 year 5 month old adolescent diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Controversial research has indicated that Ritalin can be the treatment of choice to help control off task school-related behaviors in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordered (ADHD) children. Others have countered these findings and argue that Ritalin is not an effective alternative to treat ADHD children. This study utilized a single-subject A-B research design to determine statistical differences at a .05 level of significance. The Emotional/Behavior Disorder Scale E/BDS (McCarney, 1994) and the Attention Deficit Disorder Scale ADDES (McCarney, 1995) were used to measure affective behavior. The Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (Woodcock, 1990) assessed the subject's academic achievement. An interval time sampling and an anecdotal log were used to assess the psychomotor behaviors of the subject. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data by comparing scaled scores, computing the mean and standard deviations, and the inferential t-test for non-independent subjects was utilized within the study. When interpreting the subject's results in affective behavior, improvements were noticed within the school environment, but not in the home environment when intervened with Ritalin. The subject's cognitive behavior improved in all academic clusters with the exception of reading. The subject's psychomotor behavior did not show any improvements in on-task active engaged time nor off-task passive behaviors when Ritalin was taken.

Keywords

Special Education

Advisor

Michael Kallam

Date of Award

Spring 1997

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

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