Handwriting capacity in children newly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Handwriting in newly diagnosed ADHD kids is highly variable—screen visual-motor and ball skills to predict who will struggle most.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gomot et al. (2011) looked at handwriting in kids who had just learned they had ADHD. None had taken medicine yet.
The team tested legibility, speed, visual-motor skill, and ball-catching coordination. They wanted to see which skills best predict neat writing.
What they found
Handwriting was all over the map. Some kids wrote fast but messy. Others wrote slowly and neatly.
Visual-motor integration and upper-body coordination predicted legibility. The better kids caught or copied shapes, the cleaner their letters.
How this fits with other research
Shen et al. (2012) ran a similar test one year later and added a neurotypical control group. They also saw slower, less legible writing in ADHD kids, backing up Marie’s core point.
Capodieci et al. (2018) extended the idea by adding a twist: when kids had to remember words while writing, speed dropped and legibility worsened. This shows the task itself matters.
Blanco-Martínez et al. (2025) pooled many studies and confirmed a medium-sized motor gap between ADHD and typical peers. Marie’s legibility link is part of that bigger motor picture.
Why it matters
Before you ask a child with new ADHD to write paragraphs, check visual-motor and ball skills first. If those are weak, start with short writing bursts or pencil-grip tweaks. Reduce verbal load during writing tasks—skip oral directions while they copy. These quick screens and tweaks can prevent early failure and keep kids willing to write.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Preliminary evidence suggests that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may exhibit handwriting difficulties. However, the exact nature of these difficulties and the extent to which they may relate to motor or behavioural difficulties remains unclear. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in children newly diagnosed with ADHD and identify predictors of performance. Forty medication-naïve children with ADHD (mean age 8.1 years) were evaluated with the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC), the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Conner Global Index. An important subset (85.0%) exhibited manual dexterity difficulties. Handwriting performance was extremely variable in terms of speed and legibility. VMI was the most important predictor of legibility. Upper extremity coordination, as measured by the M-ABC ball skills subtest, was also a good predictor of word legibility. CONCLUSION: Poor handwriting legibility and slow writing speed were common in children newly diagnosed with ADHD and were associated with motor abilities. Future studies are needed to determine whether interventions, including stimulant medications, can improve handwriting performance and related motor functioning.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.05.010