Researchers at Israel’s University of Haifa and the renowned Technion Institute in Haifa have discovered a link between ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), organizational deficits and motor coordination problems.
N. Lifshitz, N. Josman and E. Tirosh said their objective was “to examine the association of attention deficit and disorganization in boys with and without specific developmental disorder of motor function.”
The findings of the study, posted online ahead of publication in the December 26, 2012 edition of the Journal of Child Neurology, showed that organizational deficit in childhood is “highly associated with attention deficit,” researchers said. The association is “particularly relevant in children with specific coordination disorder,” they added.
In their study four groups of boys ages 7 to 12 were assessed using the Questionnaire for Assessing the Students’ Organizational Abilities for the Teacher, and the Conners’ Teachers Rating Scale-Revised, along with The Movement Assessment Battery for Children and the vocabulary and similarities subscales of an intelligence (IQ) test.
Findings included a significantly increased rate of attention deficit in children with organizational deficit. In addition, attention deficit in children with specific motor disorder was exclusively associated with an organizational deficit.
An abstract of the article is available at PubMed.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
My teacher, John E. Peters, MD, demonstrated the coordination piece of this in the late 1960’s and early seventies, using the older “Minimal Brain Dysfunction”/”Hyperactive Reaction of Childhood” criteria from DSM-II. Good to know that the finding holds up using the newer criteria! We elders like still being right about basic stuff. Now, if we can get the younger docs to examine children for motor problems…
I love reading a post that will make men and women think.
Also, thank you for allowing for me to comment!