# Infant motor skill trajectories and language outcomes.

> **NIH NIH R03** · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $73,250

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The goal of this research is to examine early bimanual motor skill as a predictor for language development.
Motor experience provides rich opportunities for learning in infants. Fine motor skills cascade from initial
success reaching and grasping an object to more complex exploration where one hand holds the object for the
other hand's manipulation (i.e., role-differentiated bimanual manipulation, or RDBM). A consequence of new
motor skills like RDBM is a dramatic shift in how infants engage in their social world, and infants and toddlers
who demonstrate proficiency in a motor skill are more likely to exhibit advanced language skills. The majority of
work on motor-language cascades has examined postural or locomotor skills. The developmental interplay
between early manual skill and later language ability is not well understood. Hand use patterns in infants
matter – infants who exhibit a consistent hand use trajectory for reaching to objects show advanced language
skills at 2 years of age compared to their inconsistent counterparts. As toddlers, nearly all children exhibit a
stable hand use pattern for RDBM, and consistency in hand use for RDBM continues to predict language
outcomes at 3 years of age. However, there is a gap in our knowledge of hand use patterning during the period
when RDBM emerges towards the end of the first year of life. During this period of variability, the development
of RDBM may be characterized by different hand use trajectories. Secondary analyses will be conducted on
data from a longitudinal study on hand use that videotaped children engaging with objects that afford RDBM as
infants, and assessed language ability at three preschool follow up visits. The aims of the project are to
characterize developmental trajectories of RDBM proficiency using latent class analysis and to use RDBM
trajectories to predict distal language outcomes. Infants who exhibit greater proficiency in RDBM are predicted
to have advanced language skills as preschoolers. Indexing RDBM proficiency and characterizing motor-
language cascades has important implications for developing benchmarks for typically developing children as
well as children with or at risk for developmental delays and disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9841945
- **Project number:** 5R03HD097419-02
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Eliza L Nelson
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $73,250
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9841945

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9841945, Infant motor skill trajectories and language outcomes. (5R03HD097419-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9841945. Licensed CC0.

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