Movement Scaling in Children With ADHD-Combined Type

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Child psychology
• Motor control

Background:

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in attention, impulse control, and hyperactivity.
• Motor performance deficits are often observed in children with ADHD, but specific challenges in handwriting are less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the motor performance of children with ADHD during a size-scaling handwriting task.
• To compare handwriting accuracy and fluency between children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children across different letter sizes.

Main Methods:

• A size-scaling handwriting task involving writing the cursive letter "l" at 10-mm and 40-mm sizes.
• Participants included 14 male children with ADHD and 14 age- and sex-matched TD children (ages 7-15).
• Analysis focused on accuracy, fluency, and movement scaling.

Main Results:

• Children with ADHD demonstrated significant inaccuracies when writing the 40-mm letter, failing to reach the target size.
• This scaling difficulty was not observed in typically developing children.
• Children with ADHD exhibited slightly faster and more fluent handwriting compared to TD children.

Conclusions:

• Children with ADHD experience challenges in scaling handwriting movements, particularly in larger formats.
• These difficulties may stem from impaired planning and modulation of motor control.
• Despite motor scaling issues, children with ADHD may possess faster and more fluent handwriting execution.