A Playroom Observational Procedure for Assessing Hyperactive Boys

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In two separate studies, the playroom observation technique of Routh (1975) was modified to assess activity and attentional variables under three instructional sets: free play, restricted play, and a restricted academic situation. In Experiment I, a discriminant function based on variables from the restricted academic situation correctly predicted the clinical status of 88% of all cases in a sample of 25 hyperactive and 16 nonreferred boys. In Experiment 2, the clinical status of 90% of 20 clinic-referred hyperactive boys and 20 non-referred boys was correctly predicted by a separate discriminant function based on restricted academic measures. Multivariate analyses of variance in both studies revealed significant Diagnostic group × Instructional sets in-teractions, indicating that behavioral differences between groups become more pronounced as the degree of environmental restrictiveness increases. The present observational procedures are proposed as a more standardized, objective method of assessing attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity in the clinic setting. The need for independent replication is stressed.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: