Sensitivity and Specificity of an Executive Function Screener at Identifying Children With ADHD and Reading Disability

Justin E. Karr, Michelle Y. Kibby, Audreyana C. Jagger-Rickels, Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: This study evaluated the sensitivity/specificity of a global sum score (GSS) from the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Executive Function screener (BASC-2-EF) at classifying children with/without ADHD and/or reading disability (RD). Method: The BASC-2 Teacher/Parent Rating Scales (TRS/PRS) were completed for children (8-12 years old; 43.1% female) with no diagnosis (n = 53), RD (n = 34), ADHD (n = 85), co-morbid RD/ADHD (n = 36), and other diagnoses (n = 15). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses evaluated the sensitivity/specificity of the BASC-2-EF GSS at discriminating between children with/without ADHD or RD. Results: Area under the curve (AUC) scores indicated the sensitivity/specificity of the BASC-2-EF GSS at discriminating between children with/without ADHD (TRS: AUC =.831, p <.001; PRS: AUC =.919, p <.001), with/without RD (TRS: AUC =.724, p =.001; PRS: AUC =.615, p =.101), and with ADHD or RD through post hoc analysis (TRS: AUC =.674, p =.006; PRS: AUC =.819, p <.001). Conclusion: The findings support utilizing the BASC-2-EF GSS when differentiating ADHD from RD and typical development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)134-140
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Attention Disorders
Volume25
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Justin E. Karr is a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar and thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for their support of his graduate studies. Data collection for this study was funded in part by grants awarded to Dr. Kibby from NIH/NICHD (R03 HD048752, R15 HD065627).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.

Keywords

  • ADHD
  • BASC-2
  • executive function
  • factor analysis
  • psychometrics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

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