Associations between Executive Functions and Sensorimotor Performance in Children at Risk for Learning Disabilities.
Cecília Tószegi, Andras N Zsido, Beatrix Lábadi
PMID 37781444WHAT IT FOUND
Poor standing balance and weak sentence repetition were the strongest predictors of being at risk for learning difficulties in preschoolers.
These two factors predicted risk better than IQ or age, suggesting clinicians should screen for balance and verbal working memory alongside cognitive tests.
Key findings
01In the final predictive model, only sentence repetition and standing balance with eyes open were significant predictors of risk for learning difficulties, while IQ and age were not.
02Children at risk for learning difficulties scored significantly lower than typically developing peers on all sensorimotor tasks, including standing balance and bilateral coordination.
03While children at risk performed worse on inhibition tasks (NoGo trials) and sentence repetition, they did not differ from typically developing children in accuracy on the card-sorting task for cognitive flexibility.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it identifies associations and predictive factors at a single point in time rather than confirming that these deficits cause learning difficulties later in school. The sample size was relatively small (95 children), which limits the generalizability of the findings. The two groups were recruited from different sources (an educational service center for at-risk children and kindergartens for typical children), which could introduce selection bias. The cognitive flexibility task (DCCS) showed a ceiling effect, meaning it was not sensitive enough to distinguish between the groups in terms of accuracy. The study did not differentiate between specific types of learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia vs. dyscalculia) in the at-risk group.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that poor balance or weak sentence repetition diagnoses a learning disability. These findings show that these skills predict a higher likelihood of being at risk, but they are not diagnostic criteria. A child with poor balance may not have learning difficulties, and a child with normal balance may still be at risk due to other factors.