On the relationship between motor performance and executive functioning in children with intellectual disabilities.
Kids with mild ID show tied motor and executive-function deficits, so assess both and consider motor-based interventions to support cognition.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Smith et al. (2010) compared motor skills and executive function in kids with borderline or mild intellectual disability against typically developing peers.
They used standard motor tests and EF tasks in a school setting. The design was quasi-experimental — no random assignment, just group comparisons.
What they found
Children with mild or borderline ID scored far below peers on both motor and executive-function measures.
The two domains moved together: poorer motor skill matched poorer working memory, inhibition, and flexibility.
How this fits with other research
Freeman et al. (2015) repeated the same link in Down syndrome, showing the motor-EF pairing is not limited to ID label — it spans neurogenetic disorders.
Hartman et al. (2017) extended the finding forward in time: skill-related fitness in the same mild-ID group predicted later EF gains, hinting that motor work could protect cognition.
Ramos-Sánchez et al. (2022) looked at ASD and saw the opposite direction — higher IQ predicted better motor skills. The clash is only on paper: E et al. studied kids already diagnosed with ID, while Pelayo sampled kids with ASD where ID was just one factor. Different baselines, different stories.
Why it matters
When a child has mild ID, assume both motor and executive systems are weak. Screen both areas before writing goals. Partner with PE or occupational therapy to build motor skill — it may give you bonus EF growth later, as Esther’s four-year data suggest. And do not be surprised if a child with ASD plus ID shows a different IQ-motor pattern; adjust expectations rather than doubting your data.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that children with intellectual disabilities (ID) have motor problems and higher-order cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to examine the motor skills and executive functions in school-age children with borderline and mild ID. The second aim was to investigate the relationship between the two performance domains. METHODS: Sixty-one children aged between 7 and 12 years diagnosed with borderline ID (33 boys and 28 girls; 71 < IQ < 79) and 36 age peers with mild ID (24 boys and 12 girls; 54 < IQ < 70) were assessed. Their abilities were compared with those of 97 age- and gender-matched typically developing children. Qualitative motor skills, i.e. locomotor ability and object control, were evaluated with the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2). Executive functioning (EF), in terms of planning ability, strategic decision-making and problem solving, was gauged with the Tower of London (TOL) task. RESULTS: Compared with the reference group, the full ID cohort scored significantly lower on all assessments. For the locomotor skills, the children with mild ID scored significantly lower than the children with borderline ID, but for the object control skills and the TOL score, no significant differences between the two groups were found. Motor performance and EF correlated positively. At the most complex level, the TOL showed decision time to be a mediator between motor performance and EF: the children with the lower motor scores had significantly shorter decision times and lower EF scores. Analogously, the children with the lower object control scores had longer execution times and lower EF scores. CONCLUSIONS: The current results support the notion that besides being impaired in qualitative motor skills intellectually challenged children are also impaired in higher-order executive functions. The deficits in the two domains are interrelated, so early interventions boosting their motor and cognitive development are recommended.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01284.x