Effect Of Coordinative Exercise On Motor Skill Competency In Children With ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder identified through developmentally inappropriate symptoms of inattention, impulsiveness, and overactivity. Furthermore, children with ADHD also differ from age-matched typically developing children on motor coordination. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of an open skill table tennis training that involved 70-min sessions twice per week for 12 weeks on the motor skill competency of 30 boys with ADHD. METHODS: In the first 12 weeks (phase I), 15 boys (group A) received the intervention while 15 boys did not. A second 12 weeks (phase II) immediately followed, with the treatments reversed. Both groups continued their regular treatment/activity throughout the study. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 was used to collect data three times, once at study entry (T1), a second time after 12 weeks of intervention (T2), and a third time after another 12 weeks (T3). Changes in dependent variables were examined in relation to treatment, using a two-way ANOVA (group x time) with repeated measured on time (T1 versus T2). Paired t tests were used to examine the treatment effect in group B (T2 versus T3) and potential sustained treatment effect in group A (T2 versus T3). RESULTS: The main findings revealed that (a) group A exhibited significant improvements on the total motor composite (65.20 vs. 56.00, F=6.34, p<0.05), manual coordination (61.13 vs. 52.27, F=5.42, p<0.05), and strength and agility (69.87 vs. 61.73, F=9.15, p<0.01) as compared with the group B subsequent to the phase I, (b) improvements were also observed for group B subsequent to the phase II in total motor composite (56.00 vs. 62.13, t=-5.31, p<0.01), fine motor control (49.47 vs. 55.53, t=-2.63, p<0.05), and strength and agility (61.73 vs. 68.60, t=-5.08, p<0.01), and (c) group A merely maintained the improvements they attained through the intervention during phase I. CONCLUSION: Improvements in motor skill competency could be a critical variable in facilitating participation in sports for children with ADHD. Supported by Taiwan MOST grant 103-2410-H-017-026-MY3.