The pursuit flexibility of children with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder

This research explores the kinematics performance of children with ADHD on the Pursuit Test at four speeds (i.e., 30, 50, 80, 100 millimeters per second) to assess their movement flexibility and its quality. The study consists of 23 children with ADHD and 38 normal children. The results have shown that children with ADHD demonstrate a faster speed in movement, along with greater acceleration, and the entire movement process tends to be less smooth. Children with ADHD also demonstrated greater difficulty in motor control while the speeds of pursuit test increased. Discussion regarding children with ADHD had difficulty in implementing close-loop movements, higher-level cognitive processing, and higher-speed activities were proposed. Clinical implications, study limitations and suggestions for future study were provided.