Performance on the test of memory malingering in a mixed pediatric sample.

Performance on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) was evaluated in a sample of 100 consecutively referred 6 to 16-year-old children with a wide range of clinical diagnoses. In the complete sample, 97 children met actuarially defined criteria for sufficient effort on the TOMM. Two children were correctly identified as providing suboptimal effort and only one case was a possible false positive. Performance on the second trial of the TOMM did not vary with gender, ethnicity, parental occupation, performance on an independent memory test, or length of coma. Although younger children tended to be somewhat less efficient on the TOMM than older children, more than 90% of children in the 6-8 years range met criteria originally developed for adults for sufficient effort on the TOMM. It is concluded that the TOMM is a potentially useful measure of effort in the clinical neuropsychological evaluation of school-age children.