Balance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-combined type.
Kids with ADHD-C have measurable balance gaps that are milder than ASD but still worth targeting in therapy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team compared kids with ADHD-combined type to matched peers without ADHD.
They used standard motor tests and a motion-capture horseback ride to check static and dynamic balance.
All testing took place in a lab so conditions stayed the same for every child.
What they found
Children with ADHD-C showed poorer balance on every measure.
Both standing still and moving balance were weaker than in the control group.
How this fits with other research
Ament et al. (2015) found kids with autism score even lower on balance than kids with ADHD.
The two studies look opposite at first glance, but both agree ADHD causes milder balance problems than ASD.
Martín-Díaz et al. (2026) meta-analysis backs this up: across 34 studies, ASD shows large balance deficits while ADHD shows medium ones.
Pitchford et al. (2019) showed balance training can boost confidence in children with balance issues, hinting that similar drills might help the ADHD-C group.
Why it matters
If you serve kids with ADHD-C, expect wobbles that are real but smaller than those seen in ASD.
Add quick balance checks to your intake and weave short static and dynamic balance games into sessions.
The payoff can be better focus and safer play on the playground.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next session with a 30-second single-leg stand test and note any sway to tailor later balance games.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The balance ability in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-combined type (ADHD-C) has not been fully examined, particularly dynamic sitting balance. Moreover, the findings of some published studies are contradictory. We examined the static and dynamic sitting balance ability in 20 children with ADHD-C (mean age: 9 years 3 months; 18 boys, 2 girls) and 20 age-, sex-, height-, weight-, and IQ-matched healthy and typically developing controls (mean age: 9 years 2 months; 18 boys, 2 girls). The balance subtests of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) were used to compare the two groups, and a mechanical horseback riding test was recorded using a motion-capture system. Compared with the controls, children with ADHD-C had less-consistent patterns of movement, more deviation of movement area, and less-effective balance strategies during mechanical horseback riding. In addition, their performance on the balance subtests of the MABC and BOTMP were not as well as those of the controls. Our findings suggest that balance ability skill levels in children with ADHD-C were generally not as high as those of the controls in various aspects, including static and dynamic balance.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.020