Physical activity has increasingly been discussed as a non-pharmacological and developmentally appropriate adjunctive approach for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, despite growing evidence that exercise may benefit attention, inhibitory control, executive function, emotional regulation, and motor competence, the field has not yet developed sufficiently standardised, clinically usable, and context-sensitive exercise prescription models for this population. This conceptual analysis examines how exercise prescription models for children with ADHD can be developed by integrating current evidence, pediatric developmental considerations, and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) framework. The paper argues that exercise prescription for ADHD should move beyond the simple recommendation of “more physical activity” and towards structured models that specify exercise type, frequency, intensity, time, progression, supervision, safety, adherence, and functional outcomes. The SWOT analysis identifies the internal strengths of exercise prescription, including its multimodal developmental benefits, ecological compatibility, and potential complementarity with existing ADHD management. It also identifies weaknesses, including heterogeneity of protocols, unclear dose-response relationships, limited long-term evidence, and insufficient guidance for children with comorbidities. External opportunities include school-based implementation, digital monitoring, family engagement, multidisciplinary care, and public health interest in non-pharmacological interventions. Threats include overstatement of evidence, unequal access, implementation burden, safety concerns, and premature commercialisation. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes a staged, individualised, and context-sensitive exercise prescription framework for children with ADHD. The article contributes to the literature by reframing exercise intervention as a prescription-development problem rather than merely an efficacy question.
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Li, Y., Zhong, Z., Zhou. R., Li, D. (2026) Developing Exercise Prescription Models for Children with ADHD: A SWOT-based Conceptual Analysis. Journal of Disease and Public Health, 2(3), 42-51.