PEDIATRICS Vol. 59 No. 4 April 1977, pp. 584-587
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Serial Neurologic Examination of Hyperactive Children

Shirley A. McMahon M.D.1 and Laurence M. Greenberg M.D.1

1 Departments of Child Health and Human Development and Child Psychiatry, George Washington University and Children's Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Forty-four of 102 children undergoing pharmacologic treatment of hyperactivity received serial neurologic examinations on five separate occasions. The responses to three of the "soft" neurologic signs administered were analyzed: heel gait, toe gait, and diadochokinesis. A high degree of variability of response within individuals was documented. There was no evidence of interaction between treatment and the subjects' responses. The degree of variability was such that to have used these data as measures of "improvement" (i.e., drug effect) would have been misleading. The value of these signs for purposes of diagnosis or assessment of therapy is doubtful.

Submitted on May 24, 1976
Accepted on August 30, 1976