It has been estimated that about 10 percent of all boys aged six to twelve years are hyperactive. Often, hyperactivity is associated with learning disabilities. Despite the apparent magnitude of this problem, no valid objective and reliable measures are available to quantify hyperactivity in children.
This study discusses how objective measures, using sinus arrhythmia and force platform scores were developed and validated on 30 boys (15 hyperactive and 15 non-hyperactive) aged seven to twelve years. The results indicate that, when the above objective measures were used, 77 percent of all subjects were classified into their correct groups.
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