SynopsisThirty-eight boys, referred for psychiatric treatment because of serious problems of behaviour, underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo. Methylphenidate was an effective treatment over a 3-week period. A good response to methylphenidate was predicted by higher levels of inattentive and restless behaviour, impaired performance on tests of attention, clumsiness, younger age and by the absence of symptoms of overt emotional disorder. DSM-III and ICD-9 diagnoses of ‘hyperactivity’ were not good predictors. The results support the validity of a construct of hyperactivity in describing childhood psychopathology, but emphasize the need for a refinement of diagnostic criteria.

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A computer‐based clinical data gathering, storage and retrieval system isdescribed which has been operated successfully at a children's psychiatric clinic for 13 years. The system could be usefully employed in similar settings to provide a valuable research and training resource.

A test instrument is presented which utilises role-play techniques to assess parenting skills in terms of behaviour modification techniques. The validity of the test is confirmed by its ability to measure established parenting skills as well as those acquired in a parent training exercise. The test should prove to be particularly useful in evaluating parent training programmes. Parent-child interaction \Al Role-play measuresThus, given the need for an instrument to measure behaviour change and the conviction that the method should be behavioural, a Role-Playing Test (RPT) was developed. The origins of the RPT arise out of a test devised by Aitchison and Eimers (1977). Their test, using role-playing techniques, comprised 172 scoring items in 12 different role-play scenes and was intended for use with parents of children with a variety of behavioural problems. A stooge played the part of the child and parents were rated on the quality of interaction with the stooge. Smith (1977) developed a much shorter test consisting of 34 items in three role-playing scenes -designed for use with teacher training groups.Both tests proved useful in evaluating the effectiveness of various training strategies and both had good inter-rater reliability. However, other aspects of reliability and validity remained unexplored. Thus in developing the RPT particular attention has been given to providing such data. The Role-Playing Test (RPT)The test (Appendix 1) has been devised to evaluate skills elicited by three broad types of parent/child interaction where the central features are (1) a temper tantrum; (2) a learning difficulty; and (3) the occurrence of low rate but desirable behaviour. Each of these features is contained in a separate role-play scene and the total number of scoring items is 30.These particular scenes were chosen because of firstly, their value in eliciting certain parenting skills which are major components in a number of behaviour modification training programmes. These skills centre around the concepts of positive social reinforcement, mild social punishment, time out from reinforcement, modelling and extinction. Secondly, a study by Weathers and Lieberman (1978), showed that certain behavioural techniques taught on a training programme were found by parents in their "homework" assignments to be particularly successful. The behavioural techniques which are rated in the RPT would account for 77% of all their successful parent interventions. Ones not included were inappropriate for the test: for example, enuresis alarm and token reinforcement techniques. Thirdly, the scenes chosen as media for evaluating these techniques or skills were also listed by Weathers and Lieberman (1978) parent group as being problematic. For example, 42, 35 and 33% of parents rated "short-attention span", "temper tantrums" and "lack of confidence", respectively, as being severe problems.The next major consideration concerned the length of the test. Aitchison and Eimers (1977) test with 12 scenes is estimated to take at least 36 min; Smith's...

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