FMS subdomain correlations vary within academic domains: nonword reading strongest, letter reading weakest, intelligence strongest among cognitive skills¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r? · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Within reading, nonword reading showed the strongest FMS correlation (r = .332) and letter reading the weakest (r = .282); within cognition, intelligence correlated most strongly (r = .366), exceeding executive functions and vocabulary (both p < .001). → Sebastian P. Suggate 2025

Evidence¶

Sebastian P. Suggate 2025¶

Sebastian P. Suggate, Viktoria L. Karle, Tanja Kipfelsberger, Heidrun Stoeger. (2025). Keep the hands in mind: A meta-analysis of correlations between fine motor skills and reading, writing, mathematics, and cognitive development in children and adolescents. Educational Research Review 49 (2025) 100748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2025.100748

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r?

Descriptive breakdown of academic-cognitive subdomains against overall FMS (Table 2). The article states "the strongest significant correlation in the reading domain was for nonword reading, and the smallest for letter reading"; intelligence r = .366 vs executive functioning and vocabulary r = .267 each.

"the strongest significant correlation in the reading domain was for nonword reading, and the smallest for letter reading."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Age and age variance do not moderate FMS–academic-cognitive links, inconsistent with a maturation account — related
• MASEM suggests cognitive skills partially mediate the link between FMS and academic skills, which drops from r = .334 to .200 — related
• Fine motor skills show a significant moderate overall correlation (r = .329) with academic-cognitive skills in children and adolescents — related
• Graphomotor skills show the strongest links of the FMS subdomains with academic-cognitive skills, significantly exceeding dexterity — related
• Writing shows the strongest FMS correlation among academic domains, exceeding reading — related
• FiMS relate more strongly than GMS to reading, writing, mathematics, general academics and cognition, but not to language; GMS show no significant link to general academic skills — related
• Fine motor skills correlate more strongly with overall academic-cognitive skills (r = .302) than gross motor skills (r = .170) in children aged 3–16 — related
• The FiMS–GMS difference is larger for intelligence than for executive functions, where both motor skills show similar moderate links — related
• Children's baseline motor skills do not correlate with reading-related outcomes or with their use of movement when naming letter-sounds — reports the opposite