2.3.1. Clinical Methods
depression, CDI, ADHD
Initial clinical interview and physical examination were supported by the application of the following questionnaires as part of the diagnostic workup for ADHD: (1) the NICHQ Vanderbilt Parent and Teacher Assessment Scales [The CDI is a self-report assessment of depression for children and adolescents between 7–17 years old. It contains two subscales: negative mood and negative self-esteem. For each item, the respondent is presented with three choices that correspond to three levels of symptomatology: 0-absence of symptoms; 1-mild or probable symptom; 2-definite symptoms. A quantitative cut-off > 18 (normative T-score > 50) is considered pathological [MSVA is a psychometric tool designed to evaluate several attentional functions: focusing, maintaining, coding and stability. The patient is exposed to visual stimuli during a certain period (6 min in children under 9 years of age and 12 min in those older) while a simple motor task is performed by asking them to identify the figure of a man described within a grid full of distracting stimuli in the form of human figures in other postures or rotations. By quantifying the number of correct responses, commission errors, and omission errors, two variables are obtained: sustained visual attention (SA) [SA: (correct responses + omissions)/total n° of correct responses)] and quality of attention [QA: (correct responses – omissions − commission errors)/(correct responses + omissions)] [