Dysgraphia and ADHD: What Studies of Writing Found

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-03

What studies of children with ADHD found

One review looked at handwriting in children with ADHD (Puyjarinet, Chaix and Biotteau, 2024). All 17 studies that measured the finished writing found it poorer than other children's. Only 4 of 12 studies found that speed was not the same.

That is a finding about many children. Puyjarinet and colleagues also write that "there is no gold standard for diagnosing dysgraphia".

Another review pooled studies of students with ADHD (Graham and colleagues, 2016). As a group, those students scored lower on writing than students with typical school results. That included quality, how much they wrote, spelling and handwriting. It looked at group averages. It does not say how many children with ADHD find writing hard. We could read only its summary.

Our rule is to describe patterns on these pages. We do not put a name on a child.

When writing and attention trouble come together

In the research we hold, writing and attention difficulties come together more often than chance. Coming together is not the same as one causing the other.

One long US study looked at children born in Rochester, Minnesota (Yoshimasu and colleagues, 2011). They were born between 1976 and 1982. It used their school and medical records. Written-language disorder was more common in the children with ADHD than in the others. That is written-language disorder, not handwriting. It was counted by research formulas, not by a diagnosis. That is a link, not a cause.

One large Dutch twin study looked at three kinds of trouble together (van Bergen and colleagues, 2025). They were reading and spelling, math, and attention. Each difficulty was set by a cut-off the study chose, not a diagnosis. In that study, a child with one was more likely than other children to have a second. Most had only one. In that study, the genetic risks for the three partly overlapped. The study did not point to one of the three causing another. It did not measure handwriting.

The authors name two limits. Twin studies rest on assumptions. The children were tested twice. The gap may have been too long to see one cause another.

When the writing itself is hard work

When reading, writing or math still takes effort, that effort is one more job running at once. It competes with the work on the page. So a child for whom writing is hard work can look inattentive at it.

If it looks like attention, check reading, writing and math too.

Our page on dyslexia and ADHD has more on reading and attention.

Checking more than one thing

No study we hold tests home signs for telling dysgraphia from ADHD. So we do not give a list of signs that sorts them.

Have hearing and vision checked too.

In our view, the first step is usually to work out what is hard. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first.

Our comparison guide to learning difficulties looks at attention alongside reading and math.

Keep teaching the writing

Handwriting, spelling and getting ideas down each get better when taught.

Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side.

In our view, keep teaching the writing, and ask about the attention too.

Our page on writing difficulties has more.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Writing well below your child's other schoolwork.
• A teacher who raises a concern about writing.
• Extreme upset about writing.
• Complete avoidance of writing.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.