Does early communication mediate the relationship between motor ability and social function in children with cerebral palsy?
Teaching toddlers with CP to communicate early may unlock the social benefits that better motor skills promise but can’t deliver alone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed the toddlers with cerebral palsy from . They measured motor skills at 24 months, communication at 24 months, and social skills at school age.
Using a mediation model, they asked: does early communication explain why better movers later have better social lives?
What they found
Yes. Communication ability at two years carried part of the road between early motor skill and later social function. Motor skill alone mattered, but adding communication cut the direct path by almost half.
In plain words: moving helps talking, and talking helps making friends.
How this fits with other research
Kocher et al. (2015) watched preschoolers with CP for six months and saw the same kids fall fastest in daily participation when they also had low cognitive scores. Both studies flag early childhood as the window where small skill gaps snowball.
Gilboa et al. (2014) found a similar chain reaction in NF1: poor planning and language dragged down writing. The pattern is consistent—motor gaps spill into communication gaps, then into wider life skills.
Chen et al. (2013) gave us a good ruler, the CP QOL-Child, so we can now track these early boosts with a validated quality-of-life yardstick.
Why it matters
If you work with toddlers or preschoolers who have CP, start communication goals now, even if the referral was for ‘motor only’. A simple AAC device, sign program, or speech-generating toy may do more for future playdates and friendships than another hour of gait training alone. Build the bridge early; social payoffs arrive years later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental conditions such as cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk of experiencing restrictions in social activities negatively impacting their subsequent social functioning. Research has identified motor and communication ability as being unique determinants of social function capabilities in children with CP, to date, no research has investigated whether communication is a mediator of the relationship between motor ability and social functioning. AIMS: To investigate whether early communication ability at 24 months corrected age (ca.) mediates the relationship between early motor ability at 24 months ca. and later social development at 60 months ca. in a cohort of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD: A cohort of 71 children (43 male) diagnosed with CP (GMFCS I=24, 33.8%, II=9, 12.7%, III=12, 16.9%, IV=10, 14.1%, V=16, 22.5%) were assessed at 24 and 60 months ca. Assessments included the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) Infant-Toddler Checklist and the Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). A mediation model was examined using bootstrapping. RESULTS: Early communication skills mediated the relationship between early motor abilities and later social functioning, b=0.24 (95% CI=0.08-0.43 and the mediation model was significant, F (2, 68)=32.77, p<0.001, R(2)=0.49. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATION: Early communication ability partially mediates the relationship between early motor ability and later social function in children with CP. This demonstrates the important role of early communication in ongoing social development. Early identification of communication delay and enriched language exposure is crucial in this population.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.02.013