Heilsugæsla höfuðborgarsvæðisins
New study sheds light on motor skills in children with ADHD and autism
7th September 2026
A new study by staff members of the Children’s Mental Health Center sheds new light on motor skills in children with ADHD and autism. The study is based on data from 122 Icelandic children who had undergone assessment due to neurodevelopmental disorders and suspected motor difficulties.
The study was published in the journal Research in Developmental Disabilities. The researchers compared the motor skills of children with ADHD only, autism only, and children diagnosed with both ADHD and autism. The authors are Dagmar Kristín Hannesdóttir, psychologist and associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Iceland, Margrét Ísleifsdóttir, occupational therapist, and Reza Abdollahipour, professor at the Faculty of Physical Culture in Palacky University in the Czech Republic. Dagmar and Margrét work at the Children’s Mental Health Center at Heilsugæsla höfuðborgarsvæðisins.
The children’s motor skills were assessed using the MABC-2, a standardized assessment of motor development that evaluates, among other things, manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and balance. The results showed that children with autism without ADHD performed worse on the assessment than both children with ADHD only and children with both ADHD and autism. No significant difference was found in the motor skills of children with ADHD only and those who were also diagnosed with autism.
Surprising results
“These results came as somewhat of a surprise to us,” says Dagmar. “We had expected children with both ADHD and autism to experience greater motor difficulties than children with either diagnosis alone. Instead, the group with both autism and ADHD performed similarly to the group with ADHD only.”
“The results suggest that children with both ADHD and autism do not necessarily have greater motor difficulties simply because they have two types of neurodevelopmental diversity. They also underline the importance of assessing motor development in children with neurodevelopmental disorders as part of a comprehensive assessment of their abilities,” says Margrét.
The study is part of the NICE research project, *Characteristics of neurodiverse youth in Iceland*, and is based on data from the Children’s Mental Health Center and the former Center for Child Development and Behavior.