Motor coordination and verbal abilities: does practice with gross and fine motor skill tasks affect speech articulation?

Previous research has identified a positive correlation between fine motor skills of the hands and verbal abilities including comprehension and articulation. The present study examined the effect of practicing tasks to improve motor coordination on speech articulation. Sixteen children in junior and senior kindergarten were pre-tested on measures of manual dexterity and articulation. On the basis of their scores, children were assigned to 1 of 4 groups: gross motor activities, fine motor activities, verbal activities or regular classroom activities. The children practiced their activities for 20 minutes each day for one week, after which they were tested again on manual dexterity and articulation. The results were analyzed for improvements within the groups and for differences in improvements between the groups. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings.