Among motor subskills, general FiMS and graphomotor skills show the strongest links to overall academic-cognitive skills, and miscellaneous GMS and balance the strongest among GMS subskills¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Graphomotor skills (r = .289) and general FiMS (r = .303) showed the greatest FiMS-subskill associations, while balance (r = .232) and miscellaneous GMS (r = .298) led among GMS subskills. → Karle 2026

Evidence¶

Karle 2026¶

Karle, V. L., Suggate, S. P., Winter, R., & Stoeger, H. (2026). When Fine is Large and Gross is Small: A Meta-Analysis of Links Between Fine and Gross Motor Skills with Academic-Cognitive Skills. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10161-4

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r2

Subskill meta-regressions (Table 4) controlling for study quality. Table 4 prints general FiMS r = .303, graphomotor r = .289, dexterity r = .253, miscellaneous FiMS r = .229; miscellaneous GMS r = .298, balance r = .232, agility r = .223, whole-body coordination r = .216, object manipulation r = .190, general GMS r = .118. Adding age as a continuous predictor did not contribute significantly (p = .506).

"The greatest associations between overall academic-cognitive skills and individual FiMS subskills were found for general FiMS and graphomotor skills. For individual GMS subskills, miscellaneous GMS and balance showed the strongest links to overall academic-cognitive skills."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• 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
• Graphomotor skills show the strongest links of the FMS subdomains with academic-cognitive skills, significantly exceeding dexterity — 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