A preliminary study on the effect of methylphenidate on motor performance in children with comorbid DCD and ADHD.
Methylphenidate can sharpen motor coordination in kids with ADHD and DCD, but most still need extra therapy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers gave the kids with both ADHD and DCD a single dose of methylphenidate. On a different day they gave the same kids a placebo pill.
Each child took the Movement ABC motor test after each pill. The order of pills was random and blind.
What they found
Kids scored higher on most motor tasks after methylphenidate than after placebo. Balance, throwing, and peg-board times all improved.
Only one-third of the children, however, reached a level that parents would notice in daily life.
How this fits with other research
Capio et al. (2013) extends these results. They show that the worse the motor problems, the more attention and learning issues appear. This helps explain why only some kids in the pill study got big gains.
Fenollar-Cortés et al. (2017) looks at first like a contradiction. They found that inattention, not hyperactivity, predicts fine-motor errors in plain ADHD. The pill study adds DCD to the mix and shows methylphenidate can still lift motor scores, suggesting the drug works on the attention part that drives the errors.
Kanevski et al. (2023) deepens the picture. Kids with ADHD plus movement issues had weaker visuospatial working memory yet kept math scores steady. This hints that motor gains from methylphenidate might not spread to school tasks unless you also train visuospatial skills.
Why it matters
If you work with children who have both ADHD and DCD, do not assume methylphenidate will fix motor skills for everyone. Use quick M-ABC checks to see who gets the lift. Pair the med trial with visuomotor or balance practice for the two-thirds who still move below the clinical cutoff.
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Join Free →Run a five-item M-ABC mini-test before and one hour after the first methylphenidate dose to spot responders.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are two developmental disorders with considerable comorbidity. The impact of Methylphenidate (MPH) on ADHD symptoms is well documented. However, the effects of MPH on motor coordination are less studied. We assessed the influence of MPH on motor performance of children with comorbid DCD and ADHD. Participants were 18 children (13 boys, mean age 8.3 years) diagnosed with comorbid DCD and ADHD. A structured clinical interview (K-SADS-PL) was used to determine psychopathology and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Checklist were used to determine criterion for motor deficits. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) was administrated to all participants once under the influence of MPH and once under a placebo pill condition. The motor tests were administered on two separate days in a double-blinded design. Participants' motor performance with MPH was significantly superior to their performance in the placebo condition. Significant improvement was observed in all the M-ABC sub-tasks except for static balance performance. The findings suggest that MPH improves motor coordination in children with comorbid DCD and ADHD but clinically significant improvement was found in only 33% of the children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.06.014