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Key takeaways for school practitioners:

• ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood.¹  
• Since 2000, the percentage of American students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has jumped from 6.9% to 11.4% — a 65% increase.^2,3  
• ADHD manifests itself in three key ways, including inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. 
• Students with ADHD can also bring numerous strengths, including creative and innovative thinking, as well as high energy and enthusiasm. 
• Effective school-based supports for students with ADHD typically fall into three main categories: behavioral classroom management, organizational skills training, and environmental and instructional supports. 

Educators sometimes feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, encountering a trio of formidable challenges along the Yellow Brick Road: reading difficulties (dyslexia), writing difficulties (dysgraphia), and math difficulties (dyscalculia). These three learning disabilities are distinct in their core features – dyslexia affects reading and spelling, dysgraphia impacts writing (especially handwriting and spelling), and dyscalculia involves persistent trouble with number sense and math – yet they often travel together in the same student. In other words, it’s not unusual for a child to experience a mix of reading, writing, and math needs all at once.

In my first post in this blog series, I explained how the D-KEFS™ Advanced represents a significant departure from traditional revisions of paper-pencil cognitive tests. We went all in and developed digital-only tests that are administered and scored exclusively on iPads. Unlike the WISC-5, WAIS-5, and WMS-5, which offer both print and digital-assist formats, the new D-KEFS Advanced has no print equivalent. There are no paper stimuli, record forms, or physical manipulatives, such as the round chips and wooden pegs used in the original D-KEFS Tower Test. Instead, examinees use a stylus to interact directly with the Client iPad, which presents the test stimuli and digital manipulatives, and automatically captures and scores responses. Examiners work solely from the Practitioner iPad, which provides instructions, prompts, timing, and a real-time record of the examinee’s responses.  

I have a confession to make. During the early years that the Pearson research team and I were developing the D-KEFS™ Advanced (all-digital tests of executive functions), I was reluctant to use digital assessments in my private practice. I felt a bit hypocritical; here we were striving to create state-of-the-art digital tests of executive functions, yet in my own practice, I was clinging to tried-and-true print versions of tests, even for questionnaires like the MMPI-3^®.

I’m excited to announce the launch of the D-KEFS™ Advanced. The original D-KEFS, published in 2001, arrived on the eve of the mobile digital revolution. By 2009, as we began planning its revision, we explored how best to harness this rapidly evolving technology. Our solution was to “go all in” by developing exclusively digital tests of executive functions, freeing ourselves from the constraints of producing equivalent paper-and-pencil versions.

WAIS®-5 and WMS®-5 Together to Assess Cognition and Memory

In the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” by John Godfry Saxe, six men set out to learn about an elephant and all six of them have different perceptions based on the different parts of the elephant they experienced and argued their points mightily. “Though each was partly in the right. And all were in the wrong!” Professionals who utilize psychological assessments in their practice are very much in danger of being ‘partially right but in the wrong’ by limiting their testing to a narrow scope of cognitive functioning. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale®, Fifth Edition (WAIS®-5) and the Wechsler Memory Scale®, Fifth Edition (WMS®-5) provide clinicians with a battery of tests that sample a range of cognitive functions and have psychometric properties that allow for the integration of test results across batteries for enhanced interpretations.

We are proud to announce the new Call for Research published by Pearson Clinical Assessment. Our goal is to ensure that Pearson assessments comply with the highest standards of quality and support research that investigates the validity or efficacy of our products. We are inviting United States-based faculty members, graduate students, and qualified researchers to submit their proposals no later than August 15, 2025.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often considered a childhood disorder that diminishes in adulthood. But it can also be diagnosed in adults.

In the United States, 15.5 million adults have been diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. More than half who received their diagnosis in adulthood experience symptoms that include trouble paying close attention to details, sustaining attention, following instructions, forgetfulness, talking excessively and/or interrupting.

“There used to be an old saying that people who had ADHD would grow out of it,” explains clinical psychologist Patrick Moran. “I think what really happened is that they would learn compensatory coping skills so that they could do some of the downregulation with their emotions and behaviors. In essence, they just got better at managing it, so it was less obvious to the external observer.”