International journal of adolescent medicine and health
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Int J Adolesc Med Health · Apr 2007
Controlled Clinical TrialThe implications of having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in male adolescents with intellectual disability.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is currently defined as a cognitive/behavioral developmental disorder where all clinical criteria are behavioral. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a correlation between social skills and ADHD among adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study concerns the specific cognitive and adaptive skills of adolescents dually diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities and comorbid pathology as ADHD. ⋯ ADHD strongly increased the impairment of social skills, while behavioral disorders were less damaging in ID performance. The WISC and DBC instruments should be used with confidence in clinical and service settings, to allow a better assessment of co-occurrence morbidity in adolescents with ID. The interactions between intellectual disability and psychopathology behavior highlight the need to plan a more accurate diagnosis and appropriate rehabilitative intervention program, essential for improving the quality of life of the ID population.