Good Fine Motor Skills = Good Grades

New research that will be published soon in the Journal of Early Childhood Education and Development indicated that children who scored well on fine motor tasks when in pre-K had higher averages in second grade than those who scored lower on fine motor tasks in pre-K. Data was reviewed on 1000 second graders in Florida. The researchers looked at averages in 2nd grade and compared that to fine motor scores in pre-K. The results indicated the following:

2nd graders with an average GPA of 3.02 in math and 2.84 in reading – B averages, had received good grades in fine motor tasks in pre-K

2nd graders with an average GPA of 2.30 in math and 2.12 in Reading – C averages, scored poorly on fine motor tasks in pre-K

on the 2nd grade SAT the students with better fine motor scores in pre-k scored in the 59th percentile for reading and 62nd percentile for math

the students with poorer fine motor scores in pre-K scored in the 38th percentile on the Reading SAT and the 37th percentile for the math SAT

Although there is no cause and effect relationship is does make a good case for occupational therapy in the early years if delays are present.

You can read more about it at Florida International University website.

Reference: J Prenaud. Good handwriting and good grades: FIU researcher finds new link. Retreived from the web on 1/17/11 at http://news.fiu.edu/2012/01/good-handwriting-and-good-grades-fiu-researcher-finds-new-link/34934?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=good-handwriting-and-good-grades-fiu-researcher-finds-new-link