ADHD and dysgraphia: Underlying mechanisms

Esther Adi-Japha, Yael E. Landau, Lior Frenkel, Mina Teicher, Varda Gross-Tsur, Ruth S. Shalev

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Scopus citations

Abstract

Multiple complaints in the domain of writing are common among children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this work we sought to characterize the writing disorder by studying dysgraphia in twenty 6th grade boys with ADHD and normal reading skills matched to 20 healthy boys who served as a comparison group. Dysgraphia, defined as deficits in spelling and handwriting, was assessed according to neuropsychological explanatory processes within 3 primary domains: linguistic processing, motor programming and motor kinematics. Children with ADHD made significantly more spelling errors, but showed a unique pattern introducing letter insertions, substitutions, transpositions and omissions. This error type, also known as graphemic buffer errors, can be explained by impaired attention aspects needed for motor planning. Kinematic manifestations of writing deficits were fast, inaccurate and an inefficient written product accompanied by higher levels of axial pen pressure. These results suggest that the spelling errors and writing deficits seen in children with ADHD and normal reading skills stem primarily from non-linguistic deficits, while linguistic factors play a secondary role. Recommendations for remediation include educational interventions, use of word processing and judicious use of psychostimulants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)700-709
Number of pages10
JournalCortex
Volume43
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. We acknowledge with thanks the comments of Dr I. Ben Dror and her generous offer of the assessment battery. This study was supported by the Mirsky Foundation.

Funding

Acknowledgements. We acknowledge with thanks the comments of Dr I. Ben Dror and her generous offer of the assessment battery. This study was supported by the Mirsky Foundation.

FundersFunder number
Mirsky Foundation

    Keywords

    • Agraphia
    • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
    • Handwriting
    • Learning disabilities
    • Spelling

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