Efficacy of different treatment methods for ADHD and associated neuromotor coordination difficulties

Abstract

This study investigated the efficacy of different treatment methods for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in improving attention, and neuromotor difficulties. Children (N=95, 60 boys; 35 girls) with a mean age of 6.99+0.64 years were divided into five groups that represented different treatment modes: SharperBrain (n = 25); Neuromotor intervention (n = 21); Medication (n = 17); ADHD control (n = 18) and without ADHD control (n = 14). The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2, Quick Neurological Screening Test-2 and Visual Motor Integration test-4 were used to determine the neuromotor status of the participants. Preand post-test group differences were analysed by means of two-way cross tabulation and Mann Whitney-tests. Analysis of co-variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-square analysis were performed to determine post-test differences between the 5 groups. Results indicated that the severity of ADHD symptoms reduced in all the treatment groups to a greater or lesser extent while each treatment showed distinct improvements. Visual-motor integration skills and the QNST-2 total score improved significantly (p<0.05), with tendencies of improved motor coordination (p>0.05) in the neuromotor treatment group while visual perception improved significantly in the medicated group. Motor difficulties benefited to a lesser extent from the medication and SB interventions. It is concluded that motor difficulties that can be treated by trained specialists in ADHD children in addition to other treatments can enhance the breadth of treatment approaches for ADHD children.

Keywords: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), intervention, methylphenidate, SharperBrain^TM, sensory-motor therapy.