Correlation and Predictive Power of Fine Motor Skills and Language Development in 4-Year-Old Children with Language Delay

Objectives: Fine motor skills are closely associated with physical coordination as well as cognitive and language development in early childhood. Previous research has suggested that these domains are interrelated, especially in children with developmental delays. This study aimed to examine the correlation and predictive relationships between fine motor skills and language abilities in 4-year-old children with developmental language delays, using a short-term longitudinal approach. Methods: A total of 37 four-year-old children with developmental language delays, who had been assessed using the Preschool Receptive-Expressive Language Scale (PRES) and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2), were included in the study. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between fine motor skills and language abilities, as well as their predictive power at 6-month and 1-year follow-up points. Results: Visual-motor integration skills showed significant correlations with both receptive and expressive language scores and predicted receptive language development one year later. Grasping skills were significantly correlated with expressive language and predicted expressive language gains at six months but not at one year. Furthermore, language abilities at age four significantly predicted visual-motor integration development one year later, indicating a bidirectional relationship. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of visual-motor integration in language development and suggest that language and fine motor development may influence each other over time. These results support an integrated therapeutic approach that includes fine motor training in language interventions for children with developmental language delays.