Differential Diagnosis of Executive Functions in 8- to 11-year-old boys with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Disorder

Executive functions are one of the important factors in distinguishing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and sluggish cognitive tempo disorder. The aim of this study was to explain the differential diagnosis of executive functions in 8- to 11-year-old boys with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder and sluggish cognitive tempo disorder. The method of the present study was descriptive in the frame of Casual Comparative design and the statistical population included all 8-11 year-old male students with sluggish cognitive tempo and attention deficit /hyperactivity disorder in Urmia in 2021. The statistical sample size was 100 subjects (50 subjects with sluggish cognitive tempo and 50 subjects with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder) from the statistical population who were selected by convenience sampling. In this study, to collect data from the Child Behavior Rating Scale (Swanson et al., 1980), the Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Questioner (Penny et al., 2009) and the Children and Adolescent Functional Performance Scale (Barclay, 2012) was used. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of variance was used using SPSS version 26 software. The results of the research showed that in terms of response inhibition, spontaneity and emotion self-regulation, there is a significant difference between children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and children with sluggish cognitive tempo disorder (P<0.01), however, there was no significant difference between the two groups in problem solving and time management (P>0.01). Considering the problems of executive functions in children with sluggish cognitive tempo disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, it is suggested that therapists consider interventions to strengthen executive functions in these two groups of children to improve their social and academic performance.