THE CLINICAL UTILITY OF BEHAVIOR RATING-SCALES - COMMENTS ON THE DIAGNOSTIC-ASSESSMENT OF ADHD

Responding to Reid and Maag's critique of behavior rating scales in as sessing ADHD, published in a previous issue of the Journal of School P sychology, we provided specific recommendations for improving the accu racy of diagnostic decisions using rating scales and affirmed the impo rtance of these procedures in the assessment of ADHD. Strategies for m anaging the error intrinsic to the use of diagnostic measures, specifi cally behavior rating scales, were outlined. A multiple stage procedur e, involving one or more levels of screening prior to conducting a dia gnostic assessment, was recommended as a strategy to increase diagnost ic accuracy in a time- and cost-efficient manner. Copyright (C) 1996 S ociety for the Study of School Psychology