GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IS ASSOCIATED TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING COMPETENCIES

The foundation for gross motor development begins in infancy. From a neurodevelopmental viewpoint, every child proceeds through a series of developmental stages beginning with a ‘reflexive stage’ that spans the pre-natal and early infancy period.

The sensorimotor stage (around 0 – 2 years) is the first of the four stages in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

It extends from birth to approximately two years and is a period of rapid cognitive growth. During this time, children use their senses and actions to explore, discover, learn, and grow. From 2 to 32 months old, babies use their five senses – tasting, touching, seeing, hearing, and smelling to take in stimuli from the environment and respond through reflexes and motor activities.

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3. Berk, L. E. (2017). Exploring lifespan development. Pearson.

For each child, the senses initiate, propel, and refine fine and gross muscles into practiced balance, precision, coordination, agility, and stability. Through sensory and motor stimulation, each child is building strong cognitive connections in the brain.

During the first year of life, the primitive (or primary) reflexes supported by the lower centres of the brain are stimulated. They are the involuntary motor movements made in response to environmental stimuli. They are thought to emanate from regions of the central nervous system: the spine, the inner ear labyrinths, and the brain stem.

In the recent decades, scientists have discovered that motor development is not primarily organised in terms of reflexes. Motor development involving the cortex is being regulated at fetal age (the actual age of the growing foetus). A good example of how motor control is organised when reflexes still exist is the control of the rhythmical movements like sucking, locomotion, respiration and mastication. The development of reflexes is strongly related to voluntary motor behaviour.

Some of the reflexes are necessary for survival after birth, while some of them form the basis for gross motor skills that will develop in their later developmental stage. The Moro reflex assists the newborn with the first intake of breath. It also helps an infant to embrace when there is no support and along with the grasp reflex, regain its hold on the mother’s body. When the mother touches her infant’s cheek or the corner of the mouth, the infant turns the head in the direction of that touch (rooting reflex) and sucks (sucking reflex).

As the infant progresses from 9 to 12 months, the stepping reflex looks like a primitive walking response since it has appeared in a wide range of situations, for example, with the infant’s body in a sideways or upside-down orientation, with feet touching walls or ceilings, and even with legs dangling in the air.

When stepping is exercised regularly, infants or toddlers are likely to walk several weeks earlier than if stepping is not practised.

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9. Zelazo, N. A., Zelazo, P. R., Cohen, K. M., & Zelazo, P. D. (1993). Specificity of practice effects on elementary neuromotor patterns. Developmental Psychology, 29(4), 686.

Research suggests a relationship between reflexes, gross motor skills and academic achievement.

Mature responses in a child’s psychomotor progress can only occur if the central nervous system itself has reached maturity. The process consists of the transition from a brain stem reflex response to a cortically controlled response.

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12. Goddard, S. (1995). The role of primitive survival reflexes in the development of the visual system. Journal of Behaviour Optometry, 6(2), 31–3.

If the process has not developed properly, the child may demonstrate poor motor ability, which can manifest itself in difficulties in running, cycling and balance, and the child may be clumsy. There may also be problems with throwing and catching, and the child might avoid games involving physical movement.

Psychomotor disturbances, also known as minimal brain dysfunction, can modify and hinder a child’s spontaneous development process. The first signs can be seen in early childhood, but many of them are seen later, such as learning and behaviour difficulties during the pre-school years. This suggests that retained primitive reflexes may affect children’s gross motor development and predict difficulties in their future learning and academic performance.

A researcher investigated the impact of retained primary reflexes among preschool-aged Australian indigenous children and determined its potential impact on educational attainment using a mixed-methods approach.

He found that sixty-five per cent of 40 indigenous children sample were found to have retained moderate to high levels of the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR). In the previous research, ATNR has been linked to developmental delay, not only in movement skills but also in areas strongly related to academic achievement. Persistent or retained reflexes may be viewed as an early developmental risk for some children.

Studies found that when children could not execute motor control well in gross motor activities, there are implications on their self-esteem. Additionally, two other researchers found that 56 per cent of the 23 indigenous Australian preschool and kindergarten children assessed had adaptive and cognitive issues.

49 per cent of them had fine motor skills issues and almost 20 per cent had gross motor skill issues. More researchers also suggested that children with retained primary reflexes will have less efficacy in performing various motor tasks, including gross motor activities such as running, catching, and throwing.

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10. Gallahue, D. L., & Ozmun, J. C. (1998). Understanding motor development. USA: McGraw Hill.

This affects self-esteem and results in withdrawal from physical activities. At the extreme end of the spectrum, these issues are collectively referred to as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and may have far-reaching implications for children’s learning and academic progress.

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14. Missiuna, C., Rivard, L., & Bartlett, D. (2003). Early identification and risk management of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Paediatric Physical Therapy, 15, 32–38.

Providing ample opportunities for movement during early years is one of the key aspects of cognitive development. Motor development is a non-linear process with phases of transition and is affected by other factors such as child’s weight, muscle power, presence of a cardiac disorder and components of the environment such as housing conditions, family culture and the presence of stimulus.

This implies the importance of experience and context in motor development for infants. For instance, infants often see something they would like to touch and hold but are thwarted by unrefined muscles in the arms and hands. Expect the youngest babies to swipe and swat; grasping what they see happens only accidently. Encourage and respond by interacting with the baby using the five senses.

An infant’s or toddler’s sensory experiences affect both the size of individual neurons and their interconnections. Research has shown that the brains of infants with rich sensory experiences are physically larger and heavier and have more neuron activity than the brains of infants born in severely deprived circumstances.

Day-to-day interactions with people and the environment influence the brain’s physical structure and thus the functions the brain directs. By providing children opportunities for reflexes, sensory and gross motor development, they develop brain neutrons linked to cognitive development which are important for later academic success. Examples of sensory experiences for developing gross motor skills range from throwing a large squishy ball to jumping on a trampoline.

Researchers concluded that levels of gross motor skills are positively associated with cognitive skills (e.g. remains calm when picked up, explores object, etc.) based on a sample of Australian toddlers. In a cross-sectional study researchers examined the association between gross motor skills and cognitive skills in 335 toddlers from 30 childcare services in Australia.

The toddlers were assessed on gross motor skills using Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2nd Edition (PDMS-2) and cognitive skills using Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler development 3rd edition (Bayley-III). In the scale for assessing cognitive development, behaviour such as children displaying awareness of being in a novel situation was observed. Results showed a significant positive association between gross motor skills and cognitive skills and reinforced the need for early exposure to movement and sensory experience as this would be important for cognitive development in the early years.