Mother-child interaction during motor learning in children with differing language skills

Introduction: Early childhood is an important period for the development of both language and motor skills. Research suggests a close connection between these domains, particularly in toddlers with late language emergence (LLE) or developmental language disorder (DLD), who often exhibit delays in both gross and fine motor skills. It has been suggested that at least some of the difficulties in the motor domain may be related to deficient motor skill learning mechanisms, especially when the task involves repeated practice and novel transfer tasks. At the same time, parental involvement, especially during everyday play, plays a central role in supporting these developmental processes. Responsive parental behaviors, including verbal scaffolding and mediational strategies, have been shown to enhance learning. However, less is known about how variations in toddlers’ expressive language may influence motor skill acquisition and how parents adapt their interaction styles accordingly.

Objective: This study aimed to examine (1) the relationship between expressive language ability and motor learning performance in toddlers and (2) explore if there are differences in how mothers interact with children with higher versus lower expressive language abilities during a motor play task.

Method: Thirty toddlers aged 24–36 months were divided into two groups based on their expressive vocabulary scores as measured by the Hebrew Communicative Development Inventory (HCDI): a Low-HCDI group (≤ 40th percentile) and a High-HCDI group (> 40th percentile). Children participated in a structured motor learning task involving asymmetrical block insertions using a shape sorter. The task was administered over four sessions across one week, including a final session involving a novel transfer condition. All sessions were video recorded for behavioral coding. Child behaviors coded included on-task time, error rate, motor activity, and vocalizations. Maternal behaviors were coded for verbal and nonverbal focusing, directive use, competence support, responsiveness, and use of function-related words. Performance across sessions was analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with group comparisons.

Results: Children in both groups showed improvements in performance over time. However, those in the High-HCDI group demonstrated faster initial adaptation and consistently lower error rates. The Low-HCDI group exhibited significantly more motor activity and longer completion times at the onset of training, although these differences diminished with practice. Notably, the gap in error rate re-emerged during the transfer task, indicating reduced flexibility in adapting to novel demands among children with lower expressive language abilities. Maternal behaviors closely mirrored the children’s performance trajectory. Mothers of Low-HCDI children engaged more in non-verbal focusing and used significantly more function-related utterances, particularly at the beginning of training and again during the transfer session. These strategies appeared to serve as compensatory scaffolding. Across all participants, maternal mediation, measured through competence and directive behaviors, decreased as children’s task proficiency improved. A mismatch was noted on Day 2, wherein mothers of the Low-HCDI group reduced their use of function words, although their children did not maintain the same learning gains as their peers.

Discussion: The findings support a reciprocal and dynamic relationship between toddlers’ expressive language abilities and their motor learning trajectories. Expressive language proficiency appears to support early task adaptation and greater flexibility during novel challenges. Simultaneously, maternal mediation adjusts to perceived child need, with specific forms of input, such as function-related language and nonverbal scaffolding, playing a potentially facilitative role. The study supports previous literature on the value of responsive parenting in early learning contexts and extends it by showing how maternal input is attuned not only to general developmental level but also to real-time task performance. These insights are especially relevant for designing early intervention strategies that bridge language and motor development and emphasize caregiver involvement. Limitations include the small sample size, limited demographic variability, reliance on parental administration in home settings, and focus solely on mother-child dyads. Future research should explore paternal or educator interactions and examine underlying cognitive mediators such as working memory and attentional control. From an applied perspective, the results underscore the importance of training caregivers and educators in language-mediated strategies that promote motor engagement, particularly in toddlers with expressive language delays.