Background and Objective: Cognitive and motor processes are closely interconnected during early development. Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) often experience deficits in executive functions alongside motor impairments. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an early cognitive–motor skills enhancement program on executive functions in preschool children with DCD.

Methods: This applied quasi-experimental study used a pretest–posttest design with a control group. Thirty preschool children with DCD were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). Instruments included the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (Wilson et al., 2009), the Lincoln–Oseretsky Motor Development Scale (1955), and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Parent Form (BRIEF, 2000). The experimental group participated in 16 cognitive–motor intervention sessions (57 minutes each), while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS version 32 at a significance level of 0.05.

Results: The findings showed that the cognitive–motor intervention significantly improved executive functions in children with DCD (P < 0.05), with an effect size of 0.469.

Conclusion: Early cognitive–motor skill enhancement can effectively improve executive functions in preschool children with DCD and may also be beneficial for typically developing children.

Keywords: Cognitive–motor skills, Executive functions, Developmental coordination disorder