Haptic perception and developmental language achievements in kindergarten and preschool children

In a study with 101 children aged 3 to 5 years expressive vocabulary, morph o-syn tactical language skills, and tactile-kinesthetic/haptic perception ( stereognosis of object properties, object stereognosis) were assessed. Subs tantial Correlations were found between tactile-kinesthetic/haptic percepti on and the selected language facets. Age differences in expressive language skills remained significant even when tactile-kinesthetic/haptic perceptio n was partialized out. On the contrary, age differences in tactile-kinesthe tic/haptic perception were partially eliminated when language skills were c ontrolled for. The results are discussed with regard to the role of the tac tile-kinesthetic/haptic senses in language development.