ADHD Case Study Summary

Case Summary

A.H, a 6-year-old boy from Ampang was previously referred from a GP 2 years ago due to behavioural problems at home and preschool.

Since the age of 4 years old, the patients’ mother reported that her son showed excessive amounts of hyperactivity as well as inattention both at home and at his kindergarten.
Inattention symptoms include careless mistakes in schoolwork, inability to sustain play activities such as jigsaw puzzles, appearing not to be listening when spoken to directly, with poor eye contact and looking around despite no distractions. He was also unable to follow through instructions, spending a maximum of 10 minutes on a task before moving to something else (although he tries to complete the task as fast as possible).

It boils down to patient preference and availability of the specialist clinic. (Pliszka, 2007)

Numerous studies have been conducted to show the benefit of methylphenidate in reducing ADHD symptoms. Lord and Paisley conducted a systematic review and found that the Conners Teachers Rating Scale scores were improved significantly, especially in the hyperactivity index, when patients were treated with methylphenidate as compared to a placebo. (Lord and Paisley, 2000)

This is further supported by reviews conducted separately by Evans et al and Pelham et al, which concluded that methylphenidate improved the symptoms of ADHD, based on the IOWA Conner scores, compared to placebo. (Evans et al, 2001; Pelham et al, 2002). It was shown that symptoms were significantly improved at 16 weeks. (Kurlan et al, 2002). Numerous studies have also shown cognitive improvement with the drug, specifically planning, flexibility, attention and vigilance as well as inhibitory control (Pietrzak et al, 2006)

In a study comparing immediate-release versus extended-release methylphenidate showed that both improved the condition at 3 weeks when compared to a placebo. (Findling et al,