Do Gross and Fine Motor Skills Differentially Contribute to Language Outcomes? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Changes in motor development provide children with new learning opportunities to interact with objects, their environment, and with caregivers. Previous research finds that both gross and fine motor skills are predictive of later language outcomes across early infancy and childhood. However, gross and fine motor skills afford different types of interactions. Thus, gross and fine motor skills may potentially differ in the developmental trajectories through which cascading changes in language may occur. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether there are differences in the predictive capacities of gross and fine motor skills toward language outcomes across infancy and early childhood in typical development.Method: A systematic review of existing literature on motor-language cascades was conducted in across studies measuring gross and/or fine motor and language development in children from 0 to 5 years old. Searches were conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed, and MEDLINE. Keywords used were a combination of “gross motor,” “fine motor,” “motor performance,” “motor development,” or “psychomotor development” along with “language,” “language development,” or “communication skills.” Two independent reviewers screened abstracts and full texts based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: A total of 23 articles were retained. Of these, seven studies measured only gross motor skills, four studies measured only fine motor skills, and 12 studies measured both gross and fine motor skills in the same study. Studies used a variety of measures to assess gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and language development (e.g., parent report, in lab observations, standardized assessment), and findings varied based on analyses used. Results demonstrated that both gross and fine motor skills are related to language outcomes, but due to a smaller amount of studies testing fine motor skills, conclusions regarding whether one is more important for language outcomes cannot be drawn.Conclusions: We conclude that both gross and fine motor skills help foster language development from infancy to early childhood. Limitations regarding current knowledge regarding the mechanisms that underlie motor-language cascades are discussed, as well as the need for more studies on fine motor skills.

Early Environmental and Biological Influences on Preschool Motor Skills: Implications for Early Childhood Care and Education

“…Of the eight types of existing observational designs (Anguera et al, 2018b), we employed a Nomothetic/Punctual/Multidimensional design. It was: "Nomothetic" because various units of observation were studied (43 children); "Punctual" because for each child, an observation session was carried out to study each of the motor skills of interest in the study; and "Multidimensional" because different response levels were observed, that is, distinct aspects were observed regarding the gross and fine motor skills, thereby following the theoretical proposal of distinct authors (Matheis and Estabillo, 2018;Gonzalez et al, 2019;Goodway et al, 2019;Meylia et al, 2020). These response levels are reflected in the observation instrument used (available in the Supplementary Material).…”

“…Motor skills include the movement and coordination of one's muscles and body (Matheis and Estabillo, 2018). They are classified into two groups: (1) Gross motor skills and (2) Fine motor skills (Gonzalez et al, 2019;Goodway et al, 2019;Meylia et al, 2020). (1) Gross motor skills refer to developmental aspects associated with the child's ability to move using their large muscle groups to perform activities such as walking and jumping.…”

Neonatal multi-modal cortical profiles predict 18-month developmental outcomes

“…These larger cortical divisions include specific brain regions traditionally associated with language, such as Broca's area (within the insular and medial/inferior frontal cluster) and the supramarginal gyrus (as part of the occipital and parietal cluster), which has been implicated in studies of toddlers with developmental language disorders using MRI (Morgan et al 2016). Moreover, the contribution of the cortical primary motor areas complements the association between motor skills and language in both ASC and the general population (Bedford et al 2016;Gonzalez et al 2019), whereby better motor development is related to better language development, revealing a close relationship between these seemingly 'independent' domains.…”

Foundational Movement Skills and Play Behaviors during Recess among Preschool Children: A Compositional Analysis

“…Furthermore, accumulative evidence highlights the beneficial effects of FMS competence on wider aspects of child development. FMS have been linked to key elements of school readiness [ 15 ], including cognitive [ 16 , 17 ], language [ 18 ], and social [ 19 ] outcomes. Moreover, FMS level has been found to be inversely related with body mass index (BMI) [ 20 , 21 ] and positively associated with physical activity behaviors in preschool children [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”