Is There a Link Between Motor Performance Variability and Social-Communicative Impairment in Children With ADHD-CT: A Kinematic Study Using an Upper Limb Fitts' Aiming Task

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationship between motor performance and social-communicative impairment in children with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-CT). METHOD: An upper limb Fitts' aiming task was used as a measure of motor performance and the Social Responsiveness Scale as a measure of social-communicative/autistic impairment in the following groups: ADHD-CT (n = 11) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 10). RESULTS: Children with ADHD-CT displayed greater variability in their movements, reflected in increased error variance over repeated aiming trials compared with TD controls. Motor performance variability was associated with social-communicative deficits in the ADHD-CT bu..