The Relationship Between Motor Skills and Executive Functions in Children 1–15 Years Old With and Without Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

Abstract

From Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory to the embodied cognition perspective, there is a consensus among researchers that motor development and skills are intertwined with cognitive development. During the past decade, there has been an increasing interest among the academic world to further examine this relationship and determine the extent to which it is significant. The aim of this paper is to combine and present all the latest data from studies investigating the relationship between gross motor skills and executive functions (EFs) in children 1–15 years old. The results illustrated in the latest available research data indicate that the correlation between these two concepts can vary from weak to strong, depending on the sample (age, abilities, and skills), and the tool for measuring EFs. However, a stronger and more consistent correlation is illustrated between EFs and more complex motor skills. The authors of the article suggest a further investigation of the relationship between EFs and motor skills of the under-researched cohort of children three-to-five years old, as well as the development of appropriate assessment methods for EFs in preschool-aged children in Greece. Thus, in the future it will be more feasible to develop and assess the effectiveness of intervention programmes that will be oriented towards - but not limited to - utilising motor activities as a way of enhancing both the motor development and executive functioning of children.