Hi all, great community here, lots of great information. My son was just diagnosed a few months back. We're not medicating currently.
Anyway, I was curious if anyone saw really bad eye hand coordination in their ADHD kids at a young age = 4-6yo? (like catching balls, running, playing tag, jungle gyms, etc) Is this common in ADHD kids to be bad with their coordination? And then once you medicated, did that change?
Not sure exactly what you mean by ‘really bad’ but 4-6 yr old kids are usually pretty clumsy. Of course there are exceptions. I guess what I’m saying is they may catch a large ball to their chest at that age but not every time you throw it. I guess I’d have to hear more specific examples. Either way, the pediatrician should be able to tell if it’s part of his adhd or something else.
My son with adhd is the kid who could climb anything and he didn’t often fall running, BUT he couldn’t catch a ball at that age. Each kid is different. I’d love to hear how others respond to this. I’ve personally not heard about lack of coordination being associated w adhd.
My son with ADHD is definitely NOT our athletic child. He did a kiddie race at age 5, and cane in last place, despite being one of the oldest kids - 2 year olds passed him up.
At age 2 1/2, we really started getting concerned of a gross motor delay. At age 3, we had him officially checked by the school district, but they found no delays, and our pediatrician couldn’t find a physical reason why he was behind - it just seemed like he wasn’t really interested enough. Since his language and fine motor skills were great, and he could climb and ride a bike on track, no one was too worried.
Now at age 6, he’s not interested in doing any organized sports besides playing with us at home (he does like practice drills, but hated actual games.) But he’s caught up enough to not interfere socially (playing at recess.) He’s never going to be the fastest kid, but he has other strengths. 
I really like how you put this in perspective. They all have different strengths. Just like adults. ❤️ It’s good for me to keep in mind.
DaveRiv-
Your question sounds more like it could apply just to your child. Have you made sure his vision has been screened by his regular doctor?
My son has not had any eye hand coordination issues, but he has horrible hand wrtting because he rushing through life, including reading ( that's another topic). If you force him to stop and write properly he does a great job, he doesn't want to "waste his time".
Sorry I don't want to get off topic, I have not read anything that connects ADHD with eye hand coordination.
But again every child is so different, hope this helps.
You could ask for an assessment in school with an OT (occupational Thearpist, they specialize in helping children in the schools with eye hand coordination (and many other tasks).
As far as anything that changed before medication, many symptoms before that were unbearable, once on medication is much more "normal" now. Before tapping, moving around, talking way to much about senseless stuff once he takes his medication all of this stops and he is like a more normal child.
Best if luck.
My son also has terrible handwriting. He does decent copy work, but original thoughts are practical illegible.
As more of a direct answer to your question:
According to the last edition of Taking Charge Of ADHD by Russell Barkley (p. 116), children with ADHD are more likely to have poor motor coordination, especially fine motor.
As with all things ADHD, it’s also a spectrum, so “more likely” doesn’t mean “everyone with ADHD.”
From what I’ve read, medication will increase the opportunity for the child to learn these skills, but works best when combined with some type of motor skills training.
Thanks! (i'll look into that book too). I guess like anything, practice makes perfect. Need to find activities he's great at and watch him excel.
Great attitude! We plan on trying out Cub Scouts next year, which seems more likely to engage my son's strengths, at least until he's old enough for robotics club.
And definitely recommend most anything by Russell Barkley - he's a great starting point for information about ADHD. I frequently link his stuff on this site. Like this video:
My ADHD son is almost 7 and is on medication.
He is still working on bouncing/catching a ball. He loves running though! Actually he is one of the fastest runners in class. But he doesn't like climbing spider web at the park, more afraid of the height. But definitely trouble planning how to move body.
It really didn't make a difference whether he is on meds or not.
His OT thinks he might have movement coordination disorder. I haven't looked into this yet, but he always had delays in gross motor, fine motor, also speech.
Writing is OK as long as he is on meds. He wants to be neat and perfect!
Yes. Poor core strength said the doctor and there are a variety of things going on with him or you can say his brain function 😢. ADHD does have many setbacks and it’s just not academically
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