Differential changes in the development of motor coordination and executive functions in children with motor coordination impairments - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jan;24(1):20-45.
doi: 10.1080/09297049.2016.1223282. Epub 2016 Sep 13.

Differential changes in the development of motor coordination and executive functions in children with motor coordination impairments

Eva Michel  1 , Sabine Molitor  1 , Wolfgang Schneider  1
Affiliations

Differential changes in the development of motor coordination and executive functions in children with motor coordination impairments

Eva Michel et al. Child Neuropsychol. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Cognitive and motor coordination skills of children with and without motor coordination impairments were examined with a one-year follow-up investigation. Initially, children were between 4 and 6 years old. Age-appropriate tests of executive functions (updating, switching, inhibition, interference control), motor coordination (the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2) and fitness (the Körperkoordinations-Test für Kinder) were administered in two consecutive years. Several background variables (age, socioeconomic status, medical support, clinical interventions, leisure activities) and potential moderators (nonverbal intelligence, reaction time, visual perception) were controlled. The matched sample consisted of 48 control children and 48 children with motor coordination impairments. The children's executive functions dramatically improved during the one-year period. With regard to motor coordination performance, half of the impaired children caught up to the control children's level ("remission group"), while the remaining half showed no improvement ("persisting group"). Compared to the persisting group, the children in the remission group showed markedly better interference control at both measurement points. The correlation between executive functions and motor coordination is significant in the persisting group, but not in the remission group. The results of the study are discussed in the light of the role of executive functions, especially inhibition processes, for the automatization of motor coordination tasks.

Keywords: Cognitive development; Developmental coordination disorder; Executive functions; Motor coordination; Motor development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources