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Chapter5part3.pdf

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT In

INFANCY and TODDLERHOOD

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

• Gross motor development refers to control over actions that help an infant move around in the environment, such as crawling, standing, and walking.

• Fine motor development involves smaller

movements such as reaching and grasping. • Although the sequence of motor development is

fairly uniform across children, there are large individual differences in rate of motor progress.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

• Motor control of the head

precedes control of the arms

and trunk which precedes control of the legs (cephalocaudal trend).

• Head, trunk, and arm control appears before coordination of the hands and fingers (proximodistal trend).

Fine Motor Development: Voluntary Reaching and Grasping

• Voluntary reaching plays a vital role in infant cognitive development, since it opens up a whole new way of exploring the environment.

• Motor skills start out as gross activities and move toward mastery of fine movements.

• Prereaching is the uncoordinated, primitive reaching movements of newborns.

Voluntary Reaching and Grasping

• Development of Voluntary Reaching and Grasping

• Voluntary reaching appears at about 3 months and gradually improves in accuracy.

• Early reaching is controlled by proprioception, our sense of movement and location in space that arises from stimuli within the body.

Voluntary Reaching and Grasping

• The ulnar grasp is a clumsy grasp of young infants, in which the fingers close against the palm.

• The pincer grasp is a well-coordinated grasp that emerges at the end of the first year, involving the oppositional use of the forefinger and thumb.

Berk, 2010

Early Experience and Voluntary Reaching

• Trying to push infants beyond their current readiness to handle stimulation can undermine the development of important motor skills.

• As infants’ and toddlers’ motor skills develop, their caregivers must devote more energies to protecting them from harm

Berk, 2010

Berk, L. E., (2010). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. SEVENTH EDITION

Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston,

MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION