A - 39 The Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs (PANESS) as a Predictor of ADHD

Abstract Objective The Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs (PANESS) is a pediatric neuromotor exam. Prior research shows children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may exhibit neurological soft signs. This study investigates the predictability of PANESS performance on other ADHD measures. Methods Subjects included 52 children aged 8–16 seen clinically for evaluation at Austin Neuropsychology. Dependent variables included Digit Span (DS), Test of Everyday Attention (TeaCh), Conners Continuous Performance Test (CCPT-3), and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS). The raw scores of PANESS tasks were the independent variables. Results DS was significantly predicted by the foot tap (FT) (p = 0.017), foot heel-toe tap (FH) (p = 0.028), hand pat (HP) (p = 0.018), finger tap (FinT) (p < 0.001), and appose finger succession (AFS) (p = 0.012) tasks on the PANESS. The Category Fluency (CF) subtest on DKEFS Verbal Fluency was also significantly predicted by the FT (p = 0.043), FH (p < 0.001), hand pronate/supinate (HPS) (p = 0.003), FinT (p = 0.003), FA (p < 0.001) tasks. All PANESS tasks significantly predicted performance on Trial 2 of DKEFS Color-Word (FT: p = 0.012; FH: p = 0.015; HP: p = 0.002; HPS: p = 0.009; FinT: p = 0.003; FA: p = 0.002). The FA task was a significant predictor of all trials of CWI (T1: p < 0.001; T2: p = 0.002; T3: p < 0.001; T4: p < 0.001). Conclusion The PANESS predicts performance on some ADHD tasks, though not others. This finding prompts further investigation into how PANESS can be integrated into clinical settings to enhance ADHD diagnosis and understanding.