Handwriting performance and underlying factors in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Even without a motor disorder, kids with ADHD write slower and messier—target the motor-visual link, not just practice.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team compared handwriting in kids with ADHD to same-age peers without ADHD.
They used a digitizer tablet to measure speed, legibility, and pen pressure.
All kids were 8-11 years old and had no other motor diagnosis.
What they found
Kids with ADHD wrote more slowly and their letters were harder to read.
The problems came from weaker motor control and poor visual-motor integration, not laziness.
How this fits with other research
Gomot et al. (2011) saw the same pattern in younger, newly diagnosed kids, so the issue starts early.
Capodieci et al. (2018) added a twist: handwriting only fell apart when kids had to remember words while writing.
Wang et al. (2025) showed the deficit is even larger when dyslexia rides along with ADHD.
Blanco-Martínez et al. (2025) pooled many studies and confirmed a medium-sized motor gap across ages.
Why it matters
If a learner with ADHD rushes or grips too hard, check visual-motor games first.
Add short, single-task writing drills before you ask for note-taking during lectures.
These quick screens save minutes each session and keep frustration low.
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Join Free →Run a one-minute letter-formation race on plain paper, then on digitizer paper; note speed and legibility to set a quick baseline.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Preliminary evidence suggests that handwriting difficulties are common to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, the nature of the task-specific impairments is needed to be clarified. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in ADHD children without DCD and identify underlying factors of performance by use of outcome-oriented assessments and a digitizing tablet. Twenty-one children with ADHD (8.59±1.25 years) and 21 match controls (8.5±1.08 years) were recruited. Children with ADHD scored lower than controls on Tseng Handwriting Problem Checklist and writing composite of Basic Reading and Writing Test, indicating the ADHD group wrote less legibly. The ADHD group spent more on-paper time to copy 50 Chinese characters and exhibited more writing time during the writing process. The ADHD group scored significantly lower on tasks demanding upper limb and eye-hand coordination and visual-motor integration compared with controls. Furthermore, motor skill and visual-motor integration were positively correlated with the legibility. Motor skill was negatively correlated with writing time, in-air time, and in-air trajectory.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.02.010