[Soft neurological signs: are they of any value in the assessment and diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?]

Abstract

Introduction: The association between difficulties on motor skills, visual-hand coordination and excess motor activity was described previously of being established the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a diagnostic category. These disorders have been grouped under different terminologies, being one of them the soft neurological signs (SNS). Traditionally, the European scientific community has put more attention on the SNS than the American one. However, nowadays there are a lot of neuropediatrician and community pediatrician that continue to think that those deficits, together with inattention and hyperactivity, form part of the same disorder.

Development: In this article we have tried to do a neurobiological revision of the movement and the possible relationship between motor problems and cognitive processes from different points of view: neuroanatomical, findings on different clinical examination tests and neuropsychological experimental models.

Conclusion: Most of the revised articles conclude that the SNS prevalence is greater in ADHD children compared with control. Therefore we recommend to include the SNS in the evaluation and diagnosis protocols of these disorders in order to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis and to be able to evaluate the real needs of the ADHD patients.