Can a Child Have Both ADHD and Developmental Coordination Disorder?

When a child struggles with both focus and finding their feet, parents often wonder if two things are going on at once — and very often, they are.

In short

Yes — a child can absolutely have both ADHD and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), and the two travel together far more often than chance would predict. Research suggests around half of children with ADHD also show the motor-coordination difficulties of DCD, and the overlap is common enough that clinicians actively look for one when they find the other. Having both is not double the bad news — it simply means your child's support plan needs to address attention and movement together, which works beautifully when planned well.

Why the two so often go together

DCD affects how smoothly a child plans and executes movement — think handwriting that tires the hand, trouble with buttons or cycling, clumsiness, or struggling to keep up in PE. ADHD affects attention, impulse control and activity level. Because both involve the brain networks that organise and sequence actions, they frequently co-occur, and the combination can look like one masking the other:

• A child may seem "careless" or "not trying" when motor planning is genuinely hard
• Fidgeting and restlessness can hide the effort it takes to sit and write
• Homework battles may be about handwriting fatigue, not just focus
• Sports and playground struggles can affect confidence and friendships

The good news: each is supported in its own way — and addressing both lifts the whole child. Occupational therapy builds motor planning and everyday skills, while structured support for attention and routines makes that practice stick.

When to seek a developmental check

Consider a structured developmental assessment if your child shows persistent difficulty across settings — both at home and school — with focus and coordination, especially if it's affecting confidence, friendships or schoolwork. You don't need to separate the two yourself; that's exactly what a clinician untangles.

The Pinnacle way

AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional — never from an online form or a parent's best guess. Our clinicians look at the whole developmental picture, so co-occurring patterns like ADHD and DCD are seen together rather than one at a time. Explore occupational therapy for motor and self-care skills, understand how a clinician establishes your child's starting point, or begin here.

Trusted sources

World Health Organization ICD-11 framework for developmental and attention conditions; CDC guidance on ADHD in children; American Academy of Pediatrics resources on developmental and behavioural conditions.

Next step — If your child struggles with both focus and coordination, book a developmental assessment with a Pinnacle clinician to see the full picture clearly.

This is general information, not a diagnosis — individual assessment and diagnosis require an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.