Multimodal treatment for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders, characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. These core symptoms lead to impairment in home, school and peer contexts. Evidence-based treatments for ADHD include medication management (generally with stimulant medications), behavioral interventions (such as behavioral parent training, school consultation, and direct contingency management), or the combination of pharmacological and behavioral approaches. This review outlines each of these treatment strategies, reviews the rationale and evidence base currently existing for the use of multimodal rather than unimodal treatments (i.e., medication or behavioral intervention alone), and discusses potential moderators of multimodal treatment efficacy, as well as future directions for research, that may better inform clinical practice.

Keywords::

• ADHD
• attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• behavioral intervention
• medication
• multimodal intervention
• multimodal treatment
• stimulant medication

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.