Motor skills development linked with school readiness

Motor skills development linked with school readiness
 
A study published in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport finds that preschool children who performed better on fine and gross motor skill assessments early in the school year were more likely to have better social behavior and ability to pay attention, follow directions, and stay on task (known as "executive function") later in the preschool year.

For the study Megan MacDonald and colleagues used a range of assessments to measure the fine and gross motor skills and the executive function and social behavior of 92 children aged three to five. The assessments were conducted in the fall and again in the spring. Fine motor skills include visual motor integration, which includes activities such as stacking blocks, copying circles on a page, or playing with creative toys such as Lego or crayons. Gross motor skill development could include games and activities that require reciprocal play, and object manipulation skills such as ball games.

The results showed that children's visual motor integration skills in the fall of preschool had modest relations with their executive function scores assessed in the spring. Children who demonstrated better object manipulation skills in the fall had statistically significant better social behavior in their preschool classrooms in the spring, including more self-control, more cooperation, and less externalizing/hyperactivity. These findings have implications for early learning initiatives and school readiness, although additional research is needed to better understand how or why motor skills are linked.

Johns Hopkins University 

Research in Brief

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