Below average motor skills predict victimization from childhood bullies: A study of adults with ADHD.

Children with ADHD are frequently clumsy and involved in bullying, both as victims and perpetrators. The relationship between motor skills and bully status is poorly understood. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of motor skills in childhood on bully victimization/perpetration in those with ADHD. In this cross-sectional study, 403 adults diagnosed with ADHD filled out a questionnaire on their recall of bully victimization, bully perpetration, performance in physical education (PE) (defined as performance below average in i.e., ball dexterity, coordination or agility) as a proxy for motor skills, and academic skills at age 12, as compared to their peers. Of the current sample, 63% remembered being victimized and 31% noted they were perpetrators. Thirty-two percent recalled that they performed below average in PE. Being diagnosed with ADHD and having poor motor skills was strongly associated with bully victimization (OR = 2.63; 95% CI:1.62, 4.27, p < .001). Victimization was more common during all measured time periods, from nursery school until the age of 15, among those with poor performance in PE as compared to those without poor performance. No relationship was found between poor motor skills and bully perpetration. CONCLUSION: A crucial role of the cerebellum is coordination and the linking of sequenced motor actions through milli-second timing. Aberrations in this ability makes a person present as "different", which was stated as the most common reason for social exclusion by other children. Therefore, subtle clumsiness (presumed by poor performance in PE class) is suggested to mirror deficits in social skills, which is intuitively observed by peers, leading to victimization.

The Relationship Between Generalised Joint Hypermobility and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults: A Large, Cross-Sectional, Case Control Comparison.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and generalised joint hypermobility (GJH) share a number of clinical manifestations including proprioceptive impairment, motor difficulties, sensory hypersensitivity, and autonomic dysfunction. Clinical observations suggest that GJH is overrepresented in ASD. However, there are currently few systematic studies available. Knowledge about comorbidities may unfold common aetiopathological pathways underlying the association and improve the clinical management. The aim of this large, cross-sectional comparative study is to evaluate the relationship between ASD and GJH in adults. Data on joint hypermobility, symptoms associated with both hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric rating scales for ASD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and socio-demographics was collected for 199 individuals with ASD and 419 non-ASD community controls. Logistic regression models adjusting for covariates (age, sex, ethnicity) revealed a significant relationship between ASD and GJH and between ASD and symptomatic GJH, with adjusted odds ratios of 3.1 (95% CI: 1.9, 5.2; p < 0.001) and 4.9 (95% CI: 2.6, 9.0; p < 0.001), respectively. However, the high prevalence of comorbid ADHD in the study sample reduces the generalizability of the results among individuals with ASD without comorbid ADHD. Possibly, an additional ADHD phenotype is the primary driver of the association between ASD and GJH. Furthermore, GJH with additional self-reported symptoms, suggestive of HSD/hEDS, showed a stronger association with ASD than did non-specified GJH, indicating that symptomatic GJH plays a greater role in the relationship than non-specified GJH does. Therefore, the current study underscores the need of careful sample subclassifications. ASD with GJH may represent a novel subgroup of ASD in terms of aetiopathology and clinical presentation. Future research should elucidate the aetiological factors behind the association between ASD and GJH and evaluate how the comorbidity of GJH affects ASD outcomes.