Conners Parent Rating Scale

Another set of tools that could be utilized are brief rating scales. DSM-IV mandates that ADHD symptoms must be present in at least two settings. For children and adolescents, school is invariably one of the two settings. To get a sense of the comparative problems in school versus those at home, psychiatrists often use rating scales that can be completed by both parents and one or more teachers. The Conners Teacher Rating Scale, Conners Parent Rating Scale, and the Child Behavior Checklist are the most commonly nsed scales to evalnate the symptoms of ADHD. 

Venlafaxine is not FDA approved for use in children below the age of 18 however, it has been used in this population as an antidepressant as well as treatment for ADHD. In 1997, a placebo-controlled trial for children and adolescents (n = 32) diagnosed with major depression failed to show a difference between the control and venlafaxine groups (Mandoki, et al., 1997), possibly because of subtherapeutic doses of venlafaxine. A 5-week open trial of venlafaxine (n = 14) in children and adolescents (ages 8-14) with ADHD yielded significant improvements in parent ratings of hyperactivity and impulsivity on the Conners Parent rating scales (Olvera et ah, 1996). 

Conners, CJC. Conners Rating Scales Mamtal, Conners Teacher Rating Scales, Conners Parent Rating Scales Instruments for Use with Children and Adolescents. Multihealth Systems, North Tonawanda, NY, 1990. 

Rivastigmine Chez et al. (2004) Open-label study. Thirty two children (unspecified age) DSM-IV Improvements in autistic behaviour, particularly verbalization. Assessments done using Childhood Autistic Rating Scale, Gardner s Expressive and Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary tests and the Conners Parent Rating Scale. 

Nicolson et al. (2006) Thirteen children (mean age 8.8 years). 12-week open-label trial DSM-IV 61.5% children responded. Improvements in irritability, social withdrawal, emotional lability, inattention, and aggression. ABC, Conners Parent Rating Scale-Revised, Children s Psychiatric Rating Scale and Clinical Global Impressions Scale used. 

Ideally, assessment measures would be incorporated into the treatment plan to assess baseline symptoms and response to treatment. Such measures include the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale, the ten-item Conners Global Index for parents (Conners-P) and Teachers (Conners-T) ( 60), and the SNAP (Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham) rating scale (61). The latter has also been used in surveys of school-aged children ( 62). The results have been used to produce age-adjusted cutoffs that distinguish normal from abnormal degrees of inattentiveness and hyperactive/impulsive behavior. Thus, this scale can also be used to aid in documentation of the diagnosis as well as to monitor response to treatment. 

Goyette CH, Conners CK, Ulrich RE (1978) Normative data on revised Conners Parent and Teacher Rating Scales. 1 Abnorm Child Psychol 6 221-236. 

Parents behaviour ratings such as the Conners and Rutter scales are usually found to be independent of broad social indicators, such as social class, so controlling for these would not be expected to have an effect on results. 

Despite the large amount of detailed information on social, environmental and familial factors available from lead studies, there has been little investigation of the relationship of these factors with behaviour measures. For example, factors such as the mother s mental health, and the quality of the parental marital relationship, have been shown to be highly associated with mothers ratings on the Conners scale. Teachers ratings have been shown to be sensitive to the family type (single-parent or not) (Smith, 1988). No studies have controlled for factors such as these. 

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