BackgroundHandwriting 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.MethodThe 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.ResultsThere 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%.ConclusionThe handwriting of children with ADHD has specific characteristics. Graphology may serve as a clinically useful tool in the diagnosis of ADHD.

Objective: 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 study group included 21 (43%) males and 28 (57%) females, with 15 (71.4%) males and 7 (25%) females diagnosed with ADHD. A graphologist analyzed handwriting text from 49 patients, 22/49 previously diagnosed with ADHD, aged 13-18 years, in a randomized, single-blinded study. All study participants wrote a story in Hebrew in 10-12 lines, on a blank paper with a blue pen, during a period of twenty minutes. A licensed graphologist was given the papers, without details, for characterization analysis. The graphologist suggested a profile of a person with ADHD based on graphology theory for ADHD, and gave patients one point for each ADHD handwriting characteristic, up to 15 points. Patients with 9-15 points were considered to have ADHD, based on their graphology evaluation. Results The mean graphology score in the DSM based ADHD group was significantly higher than in the control group (9.61+3.49 vs. 5.79+4.01, p=0.002, respectfully). Using score of 0 as a cutoff point graphology-based ADHD score had an 80% specificity (95% CIs [59.2-92.8]), and a sensitivity of 71.4%. Conclusion: Handwriting in ADHD children and adolescence has specific characteristics, thus graphological analysis could be a useful tool to help clinicians in the diagnosis of ADHD.

Objective Handwriting difficulties are common to children with attention deficient hyperactive disorder (ADHD). The aim of our study was to find distinctive characteristics of the handwriting of children with ADHD by using graphology to analyze physical characteristics and patterns of their handwriting, and to evaluate whether graphological analysis is an effective ADHD diagnostic tool for clinicians.Method A graphologist analyzed handwriting text from 49 patients, 22/49 previously diagnosed with ADHD, aged 13-18 years, in a randomized, single-blinded study. All study participants wrote a story in Hebrew in 10-12 lines, on a blank paper with a blue pen, during a period of twenty minutes. A licensed graphologist was given the papers, without details, for characterize evaluation. The graphologist suggested a profile of a person with ADHD, and every patient received one point for each ADHD handwriting characteristic, up to 15 points. Patients with 9-15 points were considered to have ADHD, based on their graphology evaluation.Results The study group included 21 (43%) males and 28 (57%) females, with 15 (71.4%) males and 7 (25%) females diagnosed with ADHD. Overall, the mean score in the ADHD group (9.6, SD=3.49) was significantly higher ( p =0.002) than in the control group (5.79, SD=4.01).Conclusion Handwriting in ADHD children and adolescence has specific characteristics, thus graphological analysis could be a useful tool for clinicians in diagnosis of ADHD.