2-143 - Motor Skill Foundations of Cognitive Development and Academic Achievement

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Early development of sensory-motor skills, postural control, and locomotion influences the child’s ability to explore the environment, which promotes further cognitive development and academic achievement. Academic-related delays are typically identified and targeted when the child enters the school system. However, current research suggests that the child’s cognitive development and academic performance might be improved by early intervention focusing on postural control, exploratory behaviors, fine motor skills, and visual-motor coordination. Paper 1 shows that early delays in postural control and non-object oriented exploratory behaviors manifested by infants during the first two years of life are related to the delays in object-oriented exploration behaviors and cognitive outcomes at the age of 24 months. Paper 2 studies how the onset of independent locomotion during the first two years of life influences parent-infant interactions, infant play behaviors, and exploration, which form the foundation for the child’s future social and cognitive development. Paper 3 suggests that handwriting, a fundamental skill for the child’s academic success, entails a process in which young children must integrate visual, fine motor, and basic reading skills. The results illustrate how the coordination of perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes advance the development of handwriting. Paper 4 shows that early domain general skills, such as fine motor skills and attention, are as important in predicting 8th grade science achievement as basic reading and math skills. These results suggest that emphasis on early domain general skills may help improve later science achievement.

Sub Unit

• Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Chair

• Michele A Lobo, University of Delaware

Individual Presentations

• Children’s Early Postural Control and Object Exploration Relates to Future Cognitive Development - Presenting Author: Iryna Babik, University of Delaware; Andrea Cunha, University of Delaware; Michele A Lobo, University of Delaware

• Changes in Infant-Mother Interaction and Exploration as a Function of Infant Locomotor Skill Development - Presenting Author: Sabrina Thurman, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Daniela Corbetta, University of Tennessee Knoxville

• Perceptual-Motor Foundations of Early Handwriting - Presenting Author: Nicholas E. Fears, Tulane University; Leah E. Walsh, Tulane University; Jennifer E. Maldarelli, Tulane University; Jeffrey Lockman, Tulane University

• Children's Fine Motor Skills are Important for School Readiness and Science Achievement - Presenting Author: William M. Murrah, Auburn University; Erik A. Ruzek, University of Virginia; David Grissmer, University of Virginia