Effects Of Fundamental Movement Skills Training In Children With ADHD

PURPOSE: To examine the effects of fundamental movement skills (FMS) training in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typical development (TD). METHODS: A randomized controlled trial experimental design was utilized. A total of 60 children were allocated into either experimental group (ADHDexp., TDexp.) who received 12 weeks of FMS training or control groups (ADHDcon., TDcon.). The FMS training program was 60 min in length and held twice per week for 12 weeks: warm-up (5 min), review of previously learned skills (15 min), instruction and practice of a new skill [Level I (10 min)], progression of a new skill [Level II (10 min)], progression of a new skill [Level III (10 min)], and cool-down (10 min). The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 was used to assess FMS proficiency before and after the intervention. To assess the effects of the FMS program, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), utilizing the baseline score as a covariate, with a 2 (group: exp. versus con.) x 2 (disability: ADHD versus TD) independent samples analysis was conducted. Analyses of simple main effects were performed after significant interaction effects were confirmed. The level of significance was set at p < .05. RESULTS: Main findings revealed the following: (a) significant group-by-disability interaction effects were found in the gross motor development quotient (GMDQ), F(1,55) = 6.64, p = .013, ηp2 = .11, and in the locomotor skills, F(1,55) = 13.21, p = .001, ηp2 = .19. For the GMDQ, follow-up simple main effect analyses showed that at posttest, (a) the TDexp. (118.80 ± 10.42) scored significantly higher than the TDcon. (103.20 ± 13.20), p = .001, and the ADHDexp. (94.80 ± 10.42) scored significantly higher than the ADHDcon. (87.80 ± 6.05), p = .033, and (b) the TDexp. scored significantly higher than the ADHDexp., p < .001, and the TDcon. scored significantly higher than the ADHDcon., p < .001. For the locomotor skills, (a) the TDexp. (42.33 ± 2.72) performed significantly better than the TDcon. (35.73 ± 6.57), p = .001, and (b) the TDexp. performed significantly better than the ADHDexp., p = .001. CONCLUSION: The FMS training is effective in improving FMS proficiency, particularly in locomotor skills, in children with ADHD and those with TD. Taiwan MOST grant 103-2410-H-017-026-MY3 & MOST 106-2410-H-017-022-MY3