Review of Gross Motor Skills
For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of early childhood development, I want to review with you some of my earlier topics. While early childhood development is complex, it follows a simple pattern. Gross motor is the first area of development, followed by the other five domains (fine motor, language, cognitive, self help/adaptive, and social/emotional).
The gross motor domain includes the large muscles of the body. The infant begins development by kicking his/her feet and thrashing hands. With much effort and practice, the infant’s trunk muscles begin to develop, and soon we watch as the infant “rolls over”. We celebrate that first glorious “roll over”, as well we should. It is the beginning of greater things. Without rolling over, development will be delayed. In earlier days, babies were put to sleep on their tummies. This allowed plenty of time for the baby to practice holding his/her body in the air like a little turtle, with neck stretched out as if to say “Wow, look at me”. In doing this, the baby was strengthening the trunk muscles, getting them ready to “roll over”. Due to sleep apnea possibilities, “sudden death syndrome”, and other concerns, doctors recommend that babies sleep on their backs. While this is the safe position for the sleeping baby, it simply means the infant must have opportunities to be on their stomach with adult supervision. This is necessary for your baby to continue motor skill development.
To encourage gross motor development, your baby needs “floor time”. While you are watching, place your baby on a blanket, on his/her stomach, next to you on the floor. Put colorful and interesting toys in front of the baby. You may also sit in front of him/her and sing or talk. You will be amazed by the little turtle that emerges before your eyes. By doing this your baby will be strengthening the core muscles needed to roll over, sit up, crawl and walk.
We know that babies roll from stomach to back, before rolling from back to stomach. Thus, “floor time” gives the infant an opportunity to practice. Without “floor time”, gross motor development will be delayed. The developmental order for gross skills are as follows. The tummy roll (tummy to back) must be mastered before the back roll (back to tummy). The back roll must be mastered before scooting or creeping. Creeping or scooting is mastered before crawling. Some babies do not crawl before they walk, but crawling is an important step in motor development. If your baby has “floor time”, crawling should occur before pulling up and walking. Encourage crawling by putting toys just out of reach. Needless to say, walking develops before running, and running before jumping. And, all of the above, before your baby can develop into a sports or ballerina star.
Other good ways to encourage gross motor development, in the infant, is to place your baby on his /her back, scoot close and let the baby push against you with his/her legs. Infant play gyms, with dangling toys, above the baby, encourages arm swatting and leg kicking. Use your imagination to think of other ways to encourage gross motor development through infant play.
