Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Table Tennis Program

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder identified through developmentally inappropriate symptoms of inattention, impulsiveness, and overactivity. Despite the common conceptualization of ADHD as a disorder of executive functions, children with ADHD also differ from controls on a broad range of non-executive functions such as motor coordination. Because of the likelihood that motor skill performance may play a critical role that benefits the cognitive function of children with and without a disability, understanding the potential role of physical exercise in improvements to both the motor skills and executive function abilities of children with ADHD is crucial. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a 12-week (twice per week, 70 min per session) table tennis training program on the motor skills and executive functions of children with ADHD. METHODS: Forty-five boys (ADHD training, n = 15; ADHD control, n = 15; Non-ADHD control, n = 15) volunteered to participate. The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and the Stroop Color and Word Test were conducted before and after the intervention. Two-factor mixed-model ANOVAs were used to assess group and time-period differences on dependent variables. RESULTS: Main findings indicated that after the intervention, (1) both the ADHD training (+3.33) and Non-ADHD control (+3.80) groups exhibited significant improvements on the locomotor skills (F=9.13, p<0.01) compared with the ADHD control group, (2) both the ADHD training (+4.67) and Non-ADHD control (+3.40) groups performed significantly better in the object control skills (F=29.95, p<0.01) than the ADHD control group, (3) both the ADHD training (+8.20) and Non-ADHD control (+6.07) scored significantly higher on the Stroop Color-Word condition than the ADHD control group (F=9.81, p<0.01), and (4) improvements in locomotor skills (+5.13), object control skills (+5.20), and Stroop Color-Word condition (+8.73) of the ADHD training group over time were also observed. CONCLUSION: The findings are sufficiently positive to encourage additional studies with the objective of determining their clinical meaning and underlying neuropharmacological mechanisms. Supported by Taiwan MOST grant 103-2410-H-017-026-MY3.