Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children

The ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, known as the theory of mind (ToM), has been widely researched over the past 40 years, along with its relation to language comprehension. However, a majority of the research on the relation between ToM and language used only verbal tasks assessing false belief understanding as a measure of ToM. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the relation between language and ToM, using a larger battery of ToM measures, with different language demands. A total of 203 typically developing children between 46 and 68 months of age, with average nonverbal cognitive skills, were assessed using language comprehension and ToM tasks. The language aspect was assessed using the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Language Comprehension scale A). To assess ToM, verbal and non-verbal tasks were taken from the ToM subtest of the NEPSY-II. Results indicated a significant correlation between language comprehension and verbal and non-verbal ToM measures. Hierarchical regression showed that language comprehension was a significant predictor for children's performance on both verbal and non-verbal ToM tasks. Specifically, language comprehension affected ToM, regardless of the language demands of the ToM tasks. However, language comprehension was a stronger predictor for verbal than non-verbal ToM tasks. The results of this study contribute to the view that the relation between language and ToM is fundamental and exceeds the features of specific tasks.

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The relationship between motor skills and cognitive skills in 4–16 year old typically developing children: A systematic review

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport ◽

10.1016/j.jsams.2014.09.007 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 697-703 ◽

Cited By ~ 140

Author(s):

Irene M.J. van der Fels ◽

Sanne C.M. te Wierike ◽

Esther Hartman ◽

Marije T. Elferink-Gemser ◽

Joanne Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Motor Skills ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

The Relationship

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Motor, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Skills Among Children With Disabilities Over Time

The Journal of Special Education ◽

10.1177/0022466920940800 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 002246692094080

Author(s):

W. Catherine Cheung ◽

Hedda Meadan ◽

Sa Shen

Keyword(s):

Motor Skills ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Children With Disabilities ◽

Fine Motor ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Gross Motor ◽

Gross Motor Skills ◽

Socioemotional Skills ◽

Over Time

Preschoolers demonstrate rapid growth in motor, cognitive, and socioemotional (SE) skills. The Early Childhood Longitude Study–Birth Cohort was used to investigate the discrepancy in fine motor, gross motor, cognitive, and SE skills between children with and without disabilities. Findings indicated that, compared with typically developing children (TDC), children with disabilities (CWD) have (a) significant discrepancies in preschool and kindergarten among these skills, (b) an increased discrepancy in fine motor and cognitive skills from preschool to kindergarten, (c) the largest gaps in gross motor skills at preschool and kindergarten, and (d) no significant change in SE gaps from preschool to kindergarten. The findings provide evidence to support the discrepancies in motor, cognitive, and SE skills between CWD and TDC that occur as early as preschool, and that these discrepancies are not getting smaller as children enter kindergarten.

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Impairment of non-symbolic number processing in children with mathematical learning disability

Journal of Numerical Cognition ◽

10.5964/jnc.v5i1.177 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 86-104

Author(s):

Anne Lafay ◽

Marie-Catherine St-Pierre ◽

Joël Macoir

Keyword(s):

Learning Disability ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Mathematics Learning ◽

Matching Task ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Comparison Task ◽

Mathematical Learning ◽

Quebec French ◽

French Speaking

The functional origin of Mathematical Learning Disability (MLD), an impairment affecting mathematics learning, remains controversial. We aimed to study the number sense deficit hypothesis in children with MLD. We explored the processing of non-symbolic numbers in Quebec French-speaking 8‒9-year-old children with three non-symbolic tasks (number comparison, number matching and dot set selection task). Results showed that children with MLD were as successful as typically developing children in a comparison task, but less successful in a matching task. Their performance in numerical re-production was also similar to that of typically developing children for large (10-99) numerosities, while they were less successful in transcoding small (1-4) and medium (5-9) numerosities. Children with MLD also presented with general cognitive and reading difficulties. Results suggest a deficit in processing small and medium numerosities in children with MLD that could be largely attributed to their poorer cognitive skills.

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Motor and Visual-spatial Cognitive Abilities in Children Treated for Infantile Esotropia

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/00315125211011726 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003151252110117

Author(s):

Julia Dillmann ◽

Claudia Freitag ◽

Birgit Lorenz ◽

Kerstin Holve ◽

Silke Schweinfurth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Block Design ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Infantile Esotropia ◽

Motor Abilities ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Block Design Subtest

While many studies have investigated links between motor and visual spatial cognitive abilities in typically developing children, only a few studies have tested this link among children with innate handicaps. Therefore, we assessed motor abilities (using the M-ABC-2) and visual spatial cognitive skills (using the Block Design subtest of the WPPSI-III and a picture mental rotation task, PRT) of 5-7 year old typically developing children (n= 17) and same-aged children with severe deficits in stereopsis due to infantile esotropia (n= 17). Compared to the typically developing children, children with esotropia showed significantly poorer motor performances, especially in manual dexterity and ball skills, and significantly poorer and slower performance on the visual spatial cognitive tasks. Especially the girls treated for infantile esotropia needed more time to mentally rotate the pictures of the PRT correctly. Overall, this study showed that perceptual, motor and cognitive processes are interconnected and that children treated for infantile esotropia had an increased risk of motor and visual spatial cognitive deficits.

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Age Norms for Auditory-Perceptual Neurophonetic Parameters: A Prerequisite for the Assessment of Childhood Dysarthria

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-19-00114 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (4) ◽

pp. 1071-1082

Author(s):

Theresa Schölderle ◽

Elisabet Haas ◽

Wolfram Ziegler

Keyword(s):

Assessment Tool ◽

Developmental Trajectories ◽

Voice Quality ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

Age Norms ◽

Elementary School Age ◽

Speech Characteristics ◽

Substantial Progress ◽

Computer Based

Purpose The aim of this study was to collect auditory-perceptual data on established symptom categories of dysarthria from typically developing children between 3 and 9 years of age, for the purpose of creating age norms for dysarthria assessment. Method One hundred forty-four typically developing children (3;0–9;11 [years;months], 72 girls and 72 boys) participated. We used a computer-based game specifically designed for this study to elicit sentence repetitions and spontaneous speech samples. Speech recordings were analyzed using the auditory-perceptual criteria of the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales, a standardized German assessment tool for dysarthria in adults. The Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales (scales and features) cover clinically relevant dimensions of speech and allow for an evaluation of well-established symptom categories of dysarthria. Results The typically developing children exhibited a number of speech characteristics overlapping with established symptom categories of dysarthria (e.g., breathy voice, frequent inspirations, reduced articulatory precision, decreased articulation rate). Substantial progress was observed between 3 and 9 years of age, but with different developmental trajectories across different dimensions. In several areas (e.g., respiration, voice quality), 9-year-olds still presented with salient developmental speech characteristics, while in other dimensions (e.g., prosodic modulation), features typically associated with dysarthria occurred only exceptionally, even in the 3-year-olds. Conclusions The acquisition of speech motor functions is a prolonged process not yet completed with 9 years. Various developmental influences (e.g., anatomic–physiological changes) shape children's speech specifically. Our findings are a first step toward establishing auditory-perceptual norms for dysarthria in children of kindergarten and elementary school age. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12133380

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After Dismissal: Examining the Language, Literacy, and Cognitive Skills of Children With Remediated Speech Sound Disorders

Perspectives on School-Based Issues ◽

10.1044/sbi16.2.50 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 50-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Kelly Farquharson

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Speech Production ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Speech Sound Disorders ◽

Academic Difficulties ◽

The Public ◽

Age Appropriate ◽

Language Literacy

Speech sound disorders are a complex and often persistent disorder in young children. For many children, therapy results in successful remediation of the errored productions as well as age-appropriate literacy and academic progress. However, for some children, while they may attain age-appropriate speech production skills, they later have academic difficulties. For SLPs in the public schools, these children present as challenging in terms of both continuing treatment as well as in terms of caseload management. What happens after dismissal? Have these children truly acquired adequate speech production skills? Do they have lingering language, literacy, and cognitive deficits? The purpose of this article is to describe the language, literacy, and cognitive features of a small group of children with remediated speech sound disorders compared to their typically developing peers.

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