The Evaluation of Motor Skills and Neuro - Muscular Functions in Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This study is carried out to determine the existence of disorders in motor skills and neuromuscular functions in 7-10 year- old children with ADHD; and to obtain the model and nature of such disorders in these children. In this research, motor skills were measured by Lincoln -Ozeretsky Motor Development Scale; and neuromuscular functions were evaluated by clinical observations.In this analytical descriptive study, the experimental group consisted of 22 students with ADHD referred to Tohid Counseling and Treatment Center for Students and the control group consisted of 22 normal students from the 3rd Educational District of Tehran. The two groups were matched according to age, cultural and economical status. Independent T test (in Lincoln Ozeretsky Motor Development Scale) and Mann Whitney U test (in clinical observations) were used to determine the differences between the mean scores of the two groups. The results showed that the mean scores of the experimental group in Lincoln- Ozeretsky Development Scale was lower than that of the control group and this difference was significant in all the items except in balancing with open eyes and visual - motor coordination. There was a significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups in other items, such as balancing with closed eyes, bilateral movement coordination, motor acuity and speed of hands. The results give proof to the idea that occupational therapists should pay attention to the motor planning and processing of the deep vestibular inputs in the assessment and treatment of children with ADHD. Meanwhile; teachers can make use of the relative abilities of these children in processing the visual inputs for instructional strategies. Above all, the results obtained will increase our knowledge about the site of the nervous system probably involved in this disorder.