Growth and Development: Movement and Motor Development

chronological age

number of ears and months lived since birth

gestational age

number of completed weeks of pregnancy from 1st ay of last menstrual period

full term pregnancy

39-40 weeks

premature birth

birth before 37 weeks of gestation

adjusted (corrected) age

infants age from estimated due date rather than birth date

when do we use adjusted age

for preterm infants until they are 2/3 years old

developmental age

age at which a person functions cognitively/physically/socially referenced to typical development

motor milestones

milestones specific to movement (walking, crawling, rolling)

developmental milestones

physical/behavioral markers that most children reach at a given age (sitting alone, saying first word, etc)

domains of development

psychological, biophysical, sociocultural

developmental domain encompassing how people think, reason, regulate emotions, and relate to others as they mature

psychological

what is emphasized in the sociocultural dmain

ongoing interaction between the developing person and their culture/community/relationships

what does the biophysical domain deal with

growth/maturation of multiple body systems (NM, musculoskletal, CP, sensory, etc) that contribute to motor behavior

subsets of motor behavior

motor control

motor learning

motor development

motor control

study of how the neuromuscular system organizes and controls movement

motor learning

relatively permanent gains in the capability for a movement skill, resulting from practice or experience

motor development

continuous, age related process of change in movement across the lifespan

piaget stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

sensorimotor stage typical age range:

how is the world understood in this stage?

birth - 2 years

through sense and direct motor actions on objects

preoperational stage typical age range

how is the world understood in this stage?

2-7 years

through language/symbols/mental images

thinking is ___ during the preoperational stage

egocentric

concrete operational stage typical age range

how is the world understood in this stage?

7-11 years

through logical thinking about concrete events/categories

formal operational stage typical age range

how is the world understood in this stage?

12+ years

through abstract/hypothetical/scientific reasoning

what does modern research say about piaget's proposed stages

transitions are more gradual and variable across domains

what did gibson say about perception and action

that they are directly linked -- we perceive the environment in terms of the opportunities it offers for action

what is the clinical takeaway from gibson's perspective on perception and action

richness of a learners environment helps to shape the development of their perceptual and motor abilities (MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT RICHER FOR THEM)

vygostsky's theory

cognitive/motor development occur through guided social interaction, therefore culture and language shape how skills are learned and practiced

what is the zone of proximal development? what is its relevance?

gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance from a more skilled partner

it is the area where instruction is the most effective

what is scaffolding? what should occur as competence increases?

temporary, adjustable support (cues, simplification of tasks, physical guidance)

scaffolding should decrease with increased competence

clinical implications of vygostskys theory

peer modeling, family coaching, therapist hand over hand guidance all may be helpful tools to help a child practice beyond their current ability

what does the bronfenbrenner bioecologial model say about development

nested systems surround the developing person -- from immediate relationships out to broad cultural/policy

these layered contexts and the amount of influence they have shifts throughout a person's life

skinner's behaviorism/operant conditioning main idea

behavior is shaped by consequences -- reinforcement makes a behavior more likely while punishment makes it less likely

positive reinforcement

adding a desirable consequence (cookieeeee)

negative reinforcement

taking away an unpleasant condition after a behavior to reward it

punishment

adding/removing of a consequence to decrease a behavior

bandura's social learning theory main idea

people are more likely to model behavior performed by others that they perceive as similar to themselves

bandura's social learning theory 4 conditions

attention --> retention --> reproduction --> motivation

contemporary consensus on nature vs nurture

genes and environment constantly interact an experience can switch genes on/off

motor development reflects this same interaction

gesell's neural maturation theory said that ___

children develop through a similar, predictable, pre-programmed sequence with the CNS as the driving force

says the brain is pre-wired to unfold and orderly maturational sequence that is largely independent of practice

contemporary critique of gesell's neural maturation theory

environment, body proprotions, and practice all substantially impact the timing and sequence of motor milestones (development is not as pre-set as Gesell proposed)

what the Berstein's degrees of freedom problem say about movement

movement is organized around solving a task, not just executing a pre-programmed motor plan1

problem with degrees of freedom

how do novices solve this

if there are too many independent joints/muscles (degrees of freedom) it can be difficult to coordinate movement

by freezing some degrees of freedom to simplify control and then gradually releasing them with practice

bottom up control

control emerging from the periphery and the task itself

top down control

control from neural commands and the brain

what did the thelen and smith dynamical systems theory say about motor development

motor development emerges from complex, bidirectional interaction between the organism, task, and enviroment

how does the dynamical systems theory help us understand how milestones appear

new movement patterns self organize as solutions when the 3 factors (organism, environment, task) line up

milestones can therefore appear/disappear/reappear rather than unfolding in a linear fashion

newell's model of constraints

movement solutions emergy from interactions between 3 categories of constraint (indiviual/organism, environmental, task)

periods of development across the lifespan

prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, older aulthood

embryonic period length

why is it important

3-8 weeks post-fertilzation to 5-10 weeks gestational age

most critical window of prenatal development because all major internal/external structures are forming

what is very dangerous during the embryonic period

exposure to teratogens (alcohol, meds, infections) d/t highest risk of major structural anomalies

what is the fetal period? what occurs during this period

9 weeks gestational until birth

rapid CNS development and continued structural growth

T/F: musculoskeletal growth is linear

F, accelerates during first 5 years of life and then later during adolescent growth spurt

why do we use growth charts

to look at typical patterns and identify any dropoff from those patterns

gross motor development

development of abilities needed to control large muscles of body used for postural control and whole body activities

fine motor development

development of small muscles for controlled movements used for reaching/grasping/manipulation skills

how do we assess movement during infancy/childhood

looking qualitatively at postural control/transitional movements/gait emergence

how do we assess movement during adolescence and adulthood

task and sport-specific movement analysis

how do we assess movement during older adulthood

functional mobility and fall risk assessment to evaluate for safety/independence during ADLs