Fine motor skills in Afrikaans speaking primary school children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether poor motor skills are associated with ADHD. Afrikaans speaking primary school children were screened for ADHD with the Disruptive Behaviour Disorder scale (DBD). They were matched for gender and age with a normal group without ADHD symptoms. The children (31 ADHD and 31 Controls) were assessed for fine motor skills on three instruments: the Grooved pegboard, Maze co­ ordination and Finger tapping tests.

To some degree all three tests of fine motor skills revealed poorer performances in the ADHD group than in the normal group. The finger­ tapping test showed the least discrimination between the groups. The girls performed significantly poorer on all tests. There were statistically significant effects of hand dominance.

Results show that tests for fine motor skills discriminate between children with ADHD and normal comparisons. These results appear to support the hypothesis that poor motor skills are associated with ADHD.