Co-occurrence of ADHD and motor problems in children: The impact on quality of life.
ADHD plus motor problems cuts quality of life more than either issue alone, and parents feel the drop most.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kumar et al. (2025) asked two groups of parents and kids to fill out a quality-of-life form. One group had ADHD plus motor problems. The other group had only ADHD or only motor problems.
The study used a survey design. It compared scores from both parents and children to see who noticed bigger life-impact differences.
What they found
Kids with both ADHD and motor issues scored lower on quality-of-life than kids with just one problem. Parents rated the drop as larger than the kids did.
In short, the double diagnosis hurts daily life more, and moms and dads feel the sting most.
How this fits with other research
Kumar et al. (2025) meta-analysis looked at the same topic one year earlier. It found small but real quality-of-life drops in kids who only had DCD. The new study shows the drop is bigger when ADHD is also in the mix, so it extends the earlier finding.
Van Damme et al. (2015) saw high motor problems in teens with behavior disorders, even without ADHD. The 2025 paper flips the lens: it shows that when ADHD is present, the motor-plus-ADHD pair drags quality of life down further than either alone.
Tal-Saban et al. (2023) interviewed parents and teens and noticed they often disagree about daily struggles. The 2025 survey numbers back this up: parents report larger quality-of-life drops than their children.
Why it matters
If you work with children who have both ADHD and motor delays, expect a tougher daily life hit than with one diagnosis alone. Ask both the child and the parent for quality-of-life views; parents will likely show more concern. Use their reports to pick goals that target social, school, and leisure gaps, not just movement or attention skills.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Although ≈ 50 % of children with ADHD present with co-occurring symptoms consistent with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), few studies have considered the impact of co-occurring ADHD+DCD on quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to (1) disentangle the respective impact of inattentive and motor symptoms on QoL in children; (2) explore if the co-occurrence of atypical motor skill (i.e., DCD) and ADHD presents a greater risk to QoL than either disorder in isolation; and (3) clarify if the profile of QoL alters based on parent- compared to child-report. METHODS: Participants were 28 children presenting with ADHD, 16 with DCD, 26 with ADHD+DCD, and 60 controls aged 5-14 years. Parent- and child-report 'Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory' (PedsQL) measured overall QoL across physical, emotional, social, and school domains. RESULTS: Results broadly demonstrated that children with ADHD and DCD showed comparable reductions in QoL, regardless of report-type. Children with ADHD and DCD alone demonstrated lower QoL than neurotypical children. Further, those with co-occurring ADHD+DCD often presented with lower QoL than children with either ADHD or DCD in isolation, though this effect was select to parent-report. Only partial concordance was observed for parent- and child-report within groups. CONCLUSIONS: While supporting earlier reports of compromised QoL in children with ADHD and DCD, our work also provides clear evidence that the negative impact of DCD on QoL is comparable to that of ADHD. Further, our work extends prior accounts by demonstrating the potential cumulative impact of co-occurring ADHD+DCD on QoL. Lastly, our findings show that parent- and child-reports offer unique perspectives on QoL in children with and without neurodevelopmental conditions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105079