Evaluation of Potential Developmental Precursors to Executive Function in Young Children with Motor Delays: Exploratory Study

This study aimed to explore whether early developmental abilities are related to future executive function (EF) in children with motor delays. Fourteen children with motor delays (Mean age = 10.76, SD = 2.55) were included from a larger study. Object interaction and developmental outcomes (Bayley-III) were evaluated at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline. Bayley-III and EF assessments (Minnesota Executive Function Scale) were conducted at 36 months post-baseline. Children with high EF demonstrated advanced early bimanual, visual–bimanual, receptive language, expressive language, and fine motor skills compared to children with low EF. Significant positive correlations between later Bayley-III and EF scores were found for cognitive, expressive language, and fine motor scores. These preliminary results suggest that early developmental skills support the emergence of EF in children with motor delays.