Abstract This study was designed to analyze the association between motor skills and school performance in elementary school children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Two groups of children were evaluated. The experimental group contained 55 students of both sexes, age 7 to 10, who had been clinically diagnosed with ADHD; the control group consisted of 55 children with typical motor development. The results showed no association between motor skills and school performance in the experimental group, although there was a statistically significant difference between manual dexterity and writing performance in the control group. Although we found no relationship between motor skills and school performance in children with ADHD, we believe that having specialized professionals monitor these children may be beneficial. Early diagnosis of impaired motor skills and poor school performance may lead to better developmental opportunities and a better quality of life.

Objective: To compare both global and specific domains of motor development of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with that of typically developing children. Methods: Two hundred children (50 children with clinical diagnoses of ADHD, according to the DSM-IV-TR and 150 typically developing controls), aged 5 to 10 years, participated in this cross-sectional study. The Motor Development Scale was used to assess fine and global motricity, balance, body schema, and spatial and temporal organization. Results: Between-group testing revealed statistically significant differences between the ADHD and control groups for all domains. The results also revealed a deficit of nearly two years in the motor development of children with ADHD compared with the normative sample. Conclusion: The current study shows that ADHD is associated with a delay in motor development when compared to typically developing children. The results also suggested difficulties in certain motor areas for those with ADHD. These results may point to plausible mechanisms underlying the relationship between ADHD and motor difficulties.