Dr. Ray Webster develops ADHD Test - Reflector Article

Raymond E. Webster Ph.D.

May 4, 2011

An improved test to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could lead to fewer cases of children receiving unnecessary medication, said the Greenville psychologist who developed another way to measure information processing skills.

Dr. Ray Webster, a professor emeritus of psychology at East Carolina University, has given talks to national associations on the information processing test, the fourth test he's developed during his career.

Webster, who has a private practice, said there are few tests available that objectively measure the criteria that point to either ADHD or to learning disabilities.

Testing by a licensed psychologist can provide the necessary information, Webster said. In the absence of proper testing, pediatricians may put a child on medication for ADHD when it's not needed.

An earlier test developed by Webster in the 1980s measures learning efficiency and is in use as a diagnostic tool. The new information processing skills test expands on that criteria. It evaluates short-term memory and the way information is processed, and measures long-term memory access and retrieval, along with understanding language concepts.

"Better diagnosis and the test results lead directly to educational interventions," he said. "It helps the teachers to identify exactly how they need to teach."

It's difficult for children with ADHD to encode new information in their short-term memories, Webster said. It takes them longer to grasp the information.

"You may have to repeat it to them to get them to encode it," he said.

Webster, who retired from ECU in 2006 after 14 years as director of graduate studies in school psychology, spent six years developing the test. In its development stage, more than 3,300 people were tested by 154 mental health professionals in 35 states.

Sold to professionals through Academic Therapy Publications in California, the test measures cognitive functions like attention, concentration, language processing and memory. It can be used to identify a number of learning problems.

Webster isn't alone in decrying the diagnosis of ADHD without the proper testing. Testing makes it clear that "if the child is medicated that the child in fact needs it," he said.

Dr. Frank Barnhill, a family practice doctor in South Carolina, has self-published a book called "Mistaken for ADHD" on diagnoses made in haste without a full clinical evaluation.

We call it the quick fix for the symptoms," he said. "About eight or nine years ago, I started seeing more and more children coming into my practice who were on large doses of ADHD medication and weren't getting better."

Barnhill said he found that children were being given the wrong diagnosis. His priority is to rule out any other possible causes and then make sure the child meets the guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association for an ADHD diagnosis.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health's website, there is no one test that can diagnosis ADHD, and some illnesses or conditions can co-exist with ADHD.

A licensed health professional needs to make the diagnosis. "The pediatrician or mental health specialist will first try to rule out other possibilities for the symptoms," the website states. A specialist also can look at the whole picture by reviewing school and medical records and talking to parents and teachers.

Contact K.J. Williams at kwilliams@reflector.com or 252-329-9588.
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