Handwriting in Children with Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder: Role of Graphology

Overview

Journal BMC Pediatr

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2019 Dec 12

PMID 31823772

Citations 5

Authors

Rony Cohen

Batia Cohen-Kroitoru

Ayelet Halevy

Sharon Aharoni

Irena Aizenberg

Avinoam Shuper

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Handwriting difficulties are common in children with attention deficient hyperactive disorder (ADHD). The aim of our study was to find distinctive characteristics of handwriting in children with ADHD by using graphology to analyze physical characteristics and patterns, and to evaluate whether graphological analysis is an effective ADHD diagnostic tool for clinicians.

Method: The cohort included 49 children aged 13-18 years attending a tertiary neurology and epilepsy center in 2016-2017; 22 had a previous DSM-IV/V diagnosis of ADHD. The children were asked to write a 10-12-line story in Hebrew on a blank sheet of paper with a blue pen over a 20-min period. The samples were analyzed by a licensed graphologist blinded to the clinical details of the children against a predetermined handwriting profile of individuals with ADHD. Each ADHD characteristic identified in each sample was accorded 1 point, up to a total of 15 points. Patients with a graphology score of 9-15 were considered to have ADHD.

Results: There were 21 boys (43%) and 28 girls (57%) in the cohort; 15 boys (71.4%) and 7 girls (25%) had a DSM-IV/V diagnosis of ADHD. The mean graphology score was significantly higher in the children who had a DSM-IV/V diagnosis of ADHD than in the children who did not (9.61 + 3.49 vs. 5.79 + 4.01, p = 0.002, respectfully). Using a score of 9 as the cutoff, in the girls, graphology had a specificity of 80% (95% CI 59.2-92.8) and a of sensitivity 71.4% for predicting ADHD. Corresponding values in the boys were 75.0 and 76.2%.

Conclusion: The handwriting of children with ADHD has specific characteristics. Graphology may serve as a clinically useful tool in the diagnosis of ADHD.

Citing Articles

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Danna J, Puyjarinet F, Jolly C Children (Basel). 2023; 10(12).

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Toward Precision Medicine in ADHD.

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Lelong M, Zysset A, Nievergelt M, Luder R, Gotz U, Schulze C BMC Pediatr. 2021; 21(1):490.

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Handwriting Analysis in Children and Adolescents with Hemophilia: A Pilot Study.

Pasta G, Mancuso M, De Felice F, Seuser A, Annunziata S, Peyvandi F J Clin Med. 2020; 9(11).

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