Objective: Increasing demand for memory assessment in clinical settings in Iran, as well as the absence of a comprehensive and standardized task based upon the Persian culture and language in children population, requires the Persian version of the commonly used neuropsychological measure of verbal learning and memory, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in this group. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of the Persian version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Materials & Methods: In the present study for determining the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, 46 normal children and 37 children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, all right-handed and aged between 7 and 11 of both genders, were evaluated using the Persian version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Sustained Auditory Attention Capacity Test.

Results: In determining convergent validity, a negative significant correlation was found between the three parts of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (sum, immediate and delayed recall) and the total score index of Sustained Auditory Attention Capacity Test (r=-0.536, P=0.001). By comparing the test scores between the normal and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder groups, discriminant validity analysis showed significant differences of their data in all parts of the test (P<0.001). Also, in evaluating reliability with the second version of the test on 23 normal children, results showed high correlation between the two version.

Conclusion: The Persian version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test has good validity and reliability, and along with other neuropsychological tests, it can be used for the investigation of memory deficits in children suspected to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.