SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2023
A meta-analysis of the validity of the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task in predicting young children's academic performance.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mapping ecological paradigms in educational psychology: a decade of scholarship inFrontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The contributions of motor skill proficiency to cognitive and social development in early childhood.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Executive function predicts academic and social skills in autistic kindergartners based on a multimodal approach.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- The screening tool of behavioral self-regulation "Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders" task: a preliminary adaptation to Greek older adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- HTKS measure of executive function and self-regulation: two decades of progress in early childhood measurement.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Loose parts play encourages spontaneous science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) behaviours.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Task as a Screening Tool for Kindergarten-Level Achievement.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Fine Motor Skills, Executive Function, and School Readiness in Preschoolers with Externalizing Behavior Problems.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and EF in two samples of adolescents in Brazil and United States.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- HTKS-Kids: A tablet-based self-regulation measure to equitably assess young children's school readiness.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The present study represents the first meta-analytic synthesis of the utility of a widely used early-childhood self-regulation measure, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, in predicting children's academic achievement. A systematic review of the literature yielded 69 studies accessed from peer reviewed journals representing 413 effect sizes and 19,917 children meeting the complete set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Robust variance analysis demonstrated that the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task was a consistent predictor of children's academic achievement across literacy, oral language, and mathematical outcomes. A moderator analysis indicated that in accordance with prior research, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task was more strongly associated with children's mathematics performance relative to their performance on language and literacy measures. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task demonstrated statistically significant, positive associations with children's overall academic performance. These associations remained stable across different participant and measurement factors and are comparable to meta-analyses examining the self-regulation and academic association with multiple measures of self-regulation and executive function.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.