Associations Between Low-Income Children's Fine Motor Skills in Preschool and Academic Performance in Second Grade

Abstract

Research Findings: Given the growing literature pertaining to the importance of fine motor skills for later academic achievement (D. W. Grissmer, K. J. Grimm, S. M. Aiyer, W. M. Murrah, & J. S. Steele, 2010), the current study examines whether the fine motor skills of economically disadvantaged preschool students predict later academic performance in 2nd grade. More specifically, we expand on the current literature and evaluate whether 2 types of fine motor skills—fine motor object manipulation and fine motor writing—predict academic achievement above and beyond the effects of demographic characteristics and early language and cognition skills. Results indicate that performance on both fine motor writing and object manipulation tasks had significant effects on 2nd-grade reading and math achievement, as measured by grades and standardized test scores. Stronger effects were yielded for writing tasks compared to object manipulation tasks. Practice or Policy: Implications for researchers and early childhood practitioners are discussed.

Notes

Note. LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic; GPA = grade point average; SAT10 = Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition.

Note. SAT10 = Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition; GPA = grade point average.

*Given the large sample size, Cohen's (1988) conventions were used to interpret the effect size. Only a correlation coefficient of .50 or larger was considered a strong or large correlation.

Note. GPA = grade point average; SAT10 = Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition.

^a,b,c,d Indicates a significant difference between the labeled groups down the columns.

**p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. ES = effect size, expressed as Cohen's d = 2t/√(df); LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. SAT10 = Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition; ES = effect size, expressed as Cohen's d = 2t/√(df); LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic.

^a Change in model fit from Model 2.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. ES = effect size, expressed as Cohen's d = 2t/√(df); LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. SAT10 = Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition; ES = effect size, expressed as Cohen's d = 2t/√(df); LAP-D = Learning Accomplishment Profile–Diagnostic.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.