Tag: motor development

Categories
1.3 Motor Development: Development in Early Elementary

Development in Early Elementary

Motor Development: How Development in the Early Childhood Years Affects Development in the Elementary School Years1

The development of more complex skills is not possible without the development of earlier, less complex skills. For example:

  • For children, fine motor skills include holding pencils and crayons, eating with utensils properly, tying shoe laces and playing the piano.
  • Activities that require gross/ large motor skills and that impact on other skills and activities  include the following:
    • Moving around the school, up and downstairs
    • Participating in PE (Physical education class) and in school sports
    • Play and socializing at recess and lunch hours
  • For grown-ups, fine motor skills include being able sign one’s name, pour coffee, shell a hard-boiled egg and unwrap and eat a burger.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

As an adult think of what the eye/hand coordination you need in order to get a simple cup of coffee from a coffee shop:

  • you have to reach into your pocket, get your wallet and pay either with cash or a card
  • you have to put your change in your wallet, punch in a debit card code, or sign your credit card receipt
  • you have to pick up your cup of coffee from a counter
  • you may have to pick up a milk carafe and pour the milk into your cup
  • you may have to open up a small sugar container and pour it into your coffee
  • you have to lift your cup into your mouth to enjoy your
  • You also need to know what you are doing―none of that would have been possible without your eye/hand coordination: moving your hands towards what you see!
1 see References
Categories
1.3 Motor Development: Gross Motor

Gross Motor Skills

Motor Development: Gross Motor Skills1

Gross motor development, also called large motor development, refers to the development of the large muscles in the body. These are the muscles that help us sit, stand, walk, run, go up and down the stairs, and kick a ball, among many other activities.

Typically developing children usually develop gross motor skills in this order:

  • holding head straight up or erect (Fig. 1)
  • rolling from stomach to back, and then back to stomach
  • sitting with support or assistance
  • sitting without support (but with supervision!)
  • creeping (i.e. moving on stomach, usually while using mostly the arms)
  • crawling (i.e. moving while using both arms and legs)
  • rolling a ball
  • walking with both hands held by an adult
  • pulling to a stand
  • standing
  • stopping to retrieve or collect something
  • walking a few steps on their own
  • walking on their own
  • squatting to retrieve or collect something
  • kicking a ball
  • throwing and catching a ball
  • climbing on and off furniture
  • running
  • walking upstairs and downstairs
  • jumping
  • walking backwards
  • pedaling a tricycle or a mini-bike
  • hopping forward and landing on both feet
  • riding a bicycle

 

Figure 1: Child lifting head while on tummy
1 see References
Categories
1.3 What is Development: Motor Development

Motor Development: A Brief Overview

Motor Development: A Brief Overview1

Motor development refers to the development of a child’s bones, muscles and ability to move around and manipulate his or her environment. Motor development can be divided into two sections: gross motor development and fine motor development.

  • Gross motor development involves the development of the large muscles in the child’s body. These muscles allow us to sit, stand, walk and run, among other activities.
  • Fine motor development involves the small muscles of the body, especially in the hand.

Motor development also involves how well children’s muscles work. This is referred to as muscle tone. Children need a balanced muscle tone in order to develop their muscles and use them with ease when standing, sitting, rolling, walking, running, swimming and all other other postures and actions.

Motor development also involves the child’s vestibular and proprioceptive systems. Both of these are part of the child’s sensory system.

  • The vestibular system is located in the inner ear and allows the body to maintain balance.
  • The proprioceptive system involves the inner ear, the muscles, joints and tendons. It allows the body to understand where it’s located. Maintaining balance and posture and having coordinated movements are only possible if the proprioceptive system is functioning well.

The typical development of a child’s motor skills usually follows a predictable order or sequence.

  • Development occurs from the inner body to the outer body. This means that children usually develop or gain control over their arms before they develop or gain control over their fingers.
  • Development also starts from top to bottom. Children need to control their head first, then they will gain control over their legs and feet.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: CONNECTING ALL THE DEVELOPMENTAL AREAS

How well a child’s motor skills are developing will influence how well they do in other developmental areas:

  • Motor skills and cognitive development: Children are more likely to explore their environment if they are able to move easily or change positions.
  • They are also more likely to draw and write if they have good control of their finger muscles.
  • Motor skills and the development of self-help skills: Solid motor control helps children learn how to finger-feed and later use utensils (e.g. forks, spoons, chopsticks), to dress and undress, brush teeth and wash hands and face, and to learn to use the bathroom.
  • Motor skills and communication development: Having control over the oral/motor area allows a child to learn to pronounce letters and sounds correctly. This is articulation.
  • Motor skills and social and emotional development: Motor skills are needed for sitting properly, for speaking, for eating and drinking. How others react to how well a child does all this may have either a positive or negative impact on that child’s development.
1 see References
Categories
1.3 What is Adaptive Development:

Adaptive (Self-Help) Development

Adaptive (Self-Help) Development: General Development1

Adaptive skills and behaviors are the skills needed to do everyday tasks. These skills are tools adults use to live independently within our community norms. They include dressing and undressing, bathing and hygiene, toileting, and later cleaning, cooking and maintaining a household.

Like all areas of development, the successful development of adaptive skills relies heavily on the successful development of other skills.

  • For instance, a child needs to have good fine motor skills in order to fasten snaps or hold a fork, spoon or chopsticks properly. Similarly, a child needs to have basic cognitive skills in order to understand when and how they need to wash his or her hands.

Like other developmental areas for most typically developing children, the development of adaptive skills follows a predictable order. Learning “simpler” skills  is crucial to the development of the more complex skills that are learned later on.

  • For instance, when a child becomes aware of their soiled diapers and is bothered by this event, then they are ready to start the toilet training process.

When developing dressing and undressing skills, children usually go through the following sequence of skills:

  • cooperating with dressing and undressing, e.g., extending arms and legs; putting head through opening of shirt
  • taking off certain items of clothing, with help
  • putting on simple items of clothing,e.g., a hat)
  • independently taking off certain items of clothing, e.g., shoes or socks
  • putting shoes on
  • independently putting on certain items of clothing, e.g., a T-shirt
  • unfastening snaps
  • unbuttoning buttons
  • fastening snaps
  • fastening buttons
  • helping to pull zipper down, then up
  • connecting a zipper and zipping it up
  • knowing what to wear, depending on the weather, e.g. coat for a rainy day; sunglasses if out in the sun

 

1 see References

Spam prevention powered by Akismet