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Early, concurrent, and consistent hand preferences predict stacking in toddlerhood.

Emily C Marcinowski¹, Eliza L Nelson², Julie M Campbell³

¹School of Kinesiology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

Developmental Psychobiology

|June 20, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Consistent hand preference from infancy to toddlerhood supports better stacking skills. This consistency in manual proficiency development in early childhood is key for fine motor skill acquisition.

Keywords:

handedness infancy laterality manual skills motor development play stacking

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Area of Science:

Child Development
Motor Skill Acquisition
Neuroscience

Background:

Hand preference is established early and influences skill development.
Prior research indicates early hand preference aids infant stacking.
The relationship between evolving hand preference and toddler stacking remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how infant hand preference, toddler hand preference, and consistent hand preference impact toddler stacking skills.
To analyze the longitudinal effects of hand preference patterns on fine motor development.

Main Methods:

Sixty-one toddlers (infant hand preference known) were tracked from 18 to 24 months.
Toddler hand preference and stacking skills were assessed monthly over 7 visits.
Multilevel Poisson longitudinal analysis was employed.

Main Results:

Children with consistent hand preferences from infancy to toddlerhood showed greater stacking success.
Inconsistent hand preference patterns were associated with lower stacking performance.
Consistency in hand preference predicts individual differences in fine motor skills.

Conclusions:

Consistent hand preference throughout the first two years is linked to enhanced toddler stacking ability.
Hand preference consistency may be a significant factor in the development of fine motor skills.
This finding highlights the importance of stable hand use patterns for early motor skill development.