Date: June 10, 2009 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:30 – 14:00 (sandwich lunch from 12:30 –12:45; seminar begins at 12:45)
Venue: Seminar Room 6, LG-1/F, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Abstract:
Approximately 3 to 5% of children meet diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). While the most effective intervention in school-aged children with ADHD is stimulant medication, the treatment is associated with significant side effects and does not completely ameliorate all the challenges children with ADHD experience. Furthermore, in the preschool-aged population there are significant reasons to consider alternatives to pharmacological management. The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study found that treatment with stimulant medication is less effective in preschoolers with ADHD than it is for older children and may be associated with more side effects (e.g. negative effects on height velocity and emotional lability). Also, parents tend to prefer behavioral treatments to medication. However, there are few empirically validated psychosocial treatments for ADHD.

One evidence-based treatment for ADHD is behavioral parent training. Dr. Tamm will present her work implementing the Community Parent Education (COPE) program with preschoolers at risk for and diagnosed with ADHD, including modifying the program for use in diverse populations. Dr. Tamm will also present her work on attention training (ATT), an approach which suggests that attentional abilities can be improved by providing structured opportunities to exercise particular aspects of attention. Specifically, Dr. Tamm will present her work on the Attention, Inhibition, and Memory (AIM) intervention for preschoolers, a novel intervention she developed in collaboration with faculty at the University of Oregon. She will also present her feasibility testing and randomized trial of Pay Attention, a promising intervention for school-aged children with ADHD.

Bio-sketch:
Dr. Leanne Tamm, Ph.D. is currently an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Center for Advanced ADHD Research, Treatment, and Education. Prior to coming to Dallas, Texas, Dr. Tamm was Co-Director of the CUIDAR for Attention and Learning Program, a Clinical Psychologist at Children's Hospital of Orange County, and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Tamm completed her graduate training in clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, her pre-doctoral psychology internship at the University of California, San Diego Consortium, and her post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Tamm’s research interests focus on numerous aspects of the functioning of children with ADHD including brain-behavior relationships, executive function, efficacy of treatment with contingencies and medication, and prevention/early intervention. Currently Dr. Tamm is investigating non-medication interventions for ADHD, including attention training, and is using functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the biological basis for the efficacy of interventions.

Presentation file