AN ASSESSMENT OF HEMINEGLECT IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Voeller and Heilman (1988a) have produced evidence suggesting a right- hemisphere dysfunction associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): ADHD-related hemineglect. The present study is a con structive replication, using carefully screened children with ADHD for a number of compromising factors (e.g., no lateralized brain damage, handedness, eyedness). Each child received two tests: Line Bisection a nd Visual Target Cancellation Test. In addition, their performance was assessed in both binocular and monocular viewing conditions. While th e ADHD children performed generally worse than the controls on target cancellation (i.e., exhibiting higher inattention), there was no evide nce for hemineglect. To complicate matters, a reversed right-left imba lance was tapped using a structured task array for this test, for left -eye dominant ADHD children not on medication. Besides drawing attenti on to the role of the dominant eye in the scanning of children with AD HD, we suggest that no firm conclusions regarding an ostensible ADHD-r elated hemineglect may be drawn.