The Effects of a Training Course with an Emphasis on Fine Motor Skills on Executive Functions of Children with Learning Disorder

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of fine motor skills training on executive functions including working memory, problem solving,and inhibition control of 6-10 year old students with learning disorders. 30 students were randomly selected from a learning disorder center and were assigned into either a control (n=15) or experiment group (n=15) based on gender and academic grades. Intervention involved practicing of fine motor skills with emphasis on visual-motor coordination and visual-spatial integration skills based on Rini and Werner (1976) exercise package for 12 weeks, 24 one hour long sessions. London Tower, Digit Span subscale of Wechsler Intelligence Scale, and Stroop task software were used for collecting the data at pretest and posttest. Covariance analysis was used for comparing mean differences between groups. Results showed that practicing fine motor skills resulted in a significant improvement of all executive functions subscales including working memory, problem solving, and inhibition control of the participants of the experimental group. The findings indicate that requiring primary school children with learning disorder to exercise fine motor skills improves their executive functions.