Developmental trajectory in the relationship between calculation skill and finger dexterity: A longitudinal study

Beyond the Classroom: Investigating the Relationship between Psychomotor Development and Academic Achievement in 4-12-Year-Olds

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The relevance of psychomotor skills in children's growth is being increasingly recognized. The transversal role of psychomotor skills in learning performance is described through a link between cognitive and motor functioning, promoting socio-affective-expressive competencies, but there is a scarcity of evidence from the field. A two-fold goal was defined: to investigate the relationship between psychomotor functions and academic performance and to examine the factors affecting children's academic performance.

METHODS

The Portuguese versions of the Neuropsychomotor Functions Assessment Battery for Children (NPmot.pt), Preschool Diagnostic Tasks (PRE), and School Learning Skills Battery (SLSB) were applied to 350 children (85.72 ± 24.23 months) with and without disabilities attending mainstream schools.

RESULTS

Pearson correlations and regression analyses were used. NPmot.pt domains showed moderate to strong correlations with PRE domains (0.30 < r < 0.82) and weak ones with SLSB domains (r < 0.30). Psychomotor development is a stronger predictor (p < 0.001) of pre-academic performance outcomes: (βTonus = 0.67, βGross Motor Skills = 1.04, βSpatial Orientation = -1.44, βRhythm = -1.59 and βAuditory Attention = 3.68) than of academic performance above 7 years old (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Results strengthen the importance of psychomotor skills development from an early age, also at school, with implications for an early psychomotor assessment and intervention for children with and without disabilities. Tailor-fit interventions, including strategies to improve psychomotor skills, should be promoted during the school process of all children for a successful learning process.

Training arithmetical skills when finger counting and working memory cannot be used: A single case study in a child with cerebral palsy

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at greater risk of mathematical learning disabilities due to associated motor and cognitive limitations. However, there is currently little evidence on how to support the development of arithmetic skills within such a specific profile. The aim of this single-case study was to assess the effectiveness of a neuropsychological rehabilitation of arithmetic skills in NG, a 9-year-old boy with CP who experienced math learning disability and cumulated motor and short-term memory impairments. This issue was explored combining multiple-baseline and changing-criterion designs. The intervention consisted of training NG to solve complex additions applying calculation procedures with a tailor-made computation tool. Based on NG's strengths, in accordance with evidence-based practice in psychology, the intervention was the result of a co-construction process involving N, his NG's parents and professionals (therapist and researchers). Results were analyzed by combining graph visual inspections with non-parametric statistics for single-case designs (NAP-scores). Analyses showed a specific improvement in NG's ability to solve complex additions, which maintained for up to 3 weeks after intervention. The training effect did not generalize to his ability to perform mental additions, and to process the symbolic magnitude.

Mediating process between fine motor skills, finger gnosis, and calculation abilities in preschool children

Previous studies have found a relationship between fine motor skills, finger gnosis, and calculation skill. However, what mediates this association remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated whether fine motor skills and finger gnosis are selectively associated with counting and symbolic comparison, and whether fine motor skills and finger gnosis are associated with calculation skills through numerical concepts to which they are selectively associated. We measured the counting, symbolic comparison, fine motor skills, finger gnosis, and working memory in preschool children (N = 48). The hierarchical multiple regression analysis results demonstrated that fine motor skills were selectively associated with counting, and finger gnosis with symbolic comparison. Moreover, based on the results of the mediation analysis, counting mediated the relationship between fine motor and calculation skills. However, the direct effects of fine motor skills and finger gnosis on calculation skills were also maintained. The findings were that fine motor skills and finger gnosis were related to numerical abilities, including counting, symbolic comparison, and calculations. Therefore, the findings were discussed in terms of the functional view and redeployment views, suggesting that the two views were complementary rather than exclusive.

Evaluation des bénéfices d’un dispositif d’entraînement à l’usage des doigts en mathématiques

Numerous studies have shown a significant positive relationship between the mental representation of hands in young children and their calculation performance. The literature indicates that certain components of manual motor skills may be critical to the quality of this relationship. The main objective of this study is to measure the benefit of an explicit training and teaching device for finger use in mathematics by measuring the initial motor imitation abilities of young children. A protocol of pretest, training, and post-test type was proposed to 101 children with an average age of 5 years and 3 months. Measurements focused on manual motor skills and arithmetical skills. The 12-week classroom-based device was designed to develop manual motor skills and explicitly teach finger use in mathematics. The results indicate that significant progress was made in arithmetic for the students who benefited from the training. Interestingly this progress is modulated by the children’s initial motor imitation skills. This contribution opens up new research and application perspectives on the relationships between mental motor imagery, fine motor skills, and arithmetic ability.

A Developmental Embodied Choice Perspective Explains the Development of Numerical Choices

The goal of this paper is to explore how an embodied view can redirect our understanding of decision making. To achieve this goal, we contribute a developmental embodied choice perspective. Our perspective integrates embodiment and bounded rationality from a developmental view in which the body provides cues that are used in abstract choices. Hereby, the cues evolve with the body that is not static and changes through development. To demonstrate the body’s involvement in abstract choices, we will consider choices in numerical settings in which the body is not necessarily needed for the solution. For this, we consider the magnitude-judgment task in which one has to choose the larger of two magnitudes. In a nutshell, our perspective will pinpoint how the concept of embodied choices can explain the development of numerical choices.

Putting a Finger on Numerical Development - Reviewing the Contributions of Kindergarten Finger Gnosis and Fine Motor Skills to Numerical Abilities

The well-documented association between fingers and numbers is not only based on the observation that most children use their fingers for counting and initial calculation, but also on extensive behavioral and neuro-functional evidence. In this article, we critically review developmental studies evaluating the association between finger sensorimotor skills (i.e., finger gnosis and fine motor skills) and numerical abilities. In sum, reviewed studies were found to provide evidential value and indicated that both finger gnosis and fine motor skills predict measures of counting, number system knowledge, number magnitude processing, and calculation ability. Therefore, specific and unique contributions of both finger gnosis and fine motor skills to the development of numerical skills seem to be substantiated. Through critical consideration of the reviewed evidence, we suggest that the association of finger gnosis and fine motor skills with numerical abilities may emerge from a combination of functional and redeployment mechanisms, in which the early use of finger-based numerical strategies during childhood might be the developmental process by which number representations become intertwined with the finger sensorimotor system, which carries an innate predisposition for said association to unfold. Further research is nonetheless necessary to clarify the causal mechanisms underlying this association.