The Association Between Motor Skills and Academic Achievement Among Pediatric Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract

Objective: Assess the association between fine motor (FM) and visual-motor integration (VMI) skills and academic achievement in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors.

Methods: In this 28-site cross-sectional study of 256 children in first remission, a mean of 8.9 ± 2.2 years after treatment for standard-risk precursor-B ALL, validated measures of FM, VMI, reading, math, and intelligence were administered at mean follow-up age of 12.8 ± 2.5 years.

Results: VMI was significantly associated with written math calculation ability (p < .0069) after adjusting for intelligence (p < .0001). VMI was more strongly associated with math in those with lower intelligence (p = .0141). Word decoding was also significantly associated with VMI but with no effect modification by intelligence. FM skills were not associated with either reading or math achievement.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that VMI is associated with aspects of math and reading achievement in leukemia survivors. These skills may be amenable to intervention.

Keywords: academic achievement; childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia; fine motor skills; visual–motor integration.