MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Motor Skill Development in Children Ages Birth to 3 Years Old

Motor Skill Development in Children Ages Birth to 3 Years Old

Introduction

Given the direct relationships among physical inactivity, obesity, and chronic disease, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of the factors that can influence physical inactivity and to determine causal pathways that lead to physical inactivity as they emerge across developmental time. One potential causal pathway that has been largely ignored in the literature is the influence of motor skill development on physical activity levels. Although significant attention has been given to promoting physical activity in children via intervention (McKenzie, Nader, Strikmiller, & Yang, 1996; McKenzie et al., 2003; Sallis et al., 1997), little attention has been given to the developmental process of how children learn to move and to the changing role that emerging motor skill development plays in children's physical activity levels as they grow. We must find ways to mitigate the health risks of inactivity, obesity, and the lack of health-related physical fitness.

We believe that the lack of an interdisciplinary approach to address this problem has limited our ability as researchers to identify and understand the underlying mechanisms that can lead to either physical activity or physical inactivity. Thus, we have not been able to slow down or diminish these growing problems. Specifically, we believe that the limited advancement in solving the crisis of physical inactivity and obesity is due to a lack of understanding of (1) the relationship between motor skill development and physical activity; (2) the mediating effects of variables, including perceived motor skill competence, obesity, and health-related physical fitness; (3) the dynamic and changing relationships among these variables across developmental time; and (4) the use of appropriate developmental and physical activity measures. With this in mind, we have developed a model representing what we believe are important concepts that have been identified in the literature, but have not been integrated and systematically linked to the understanding of why so many individuals become inactive as they move to adolescence and adulthood.

Motor Skill Development Is a Lifelong Journey

The belief that maturation is how motor skills develop puts more emphasis on the biological or hereditary aspects than on environmental factors. But the process by which motor skills develop is more complex. Motor skills change through an interactive process between the individual's biological constraints and the environment. The central nervous system, the muscles, and the skeleton all develop; some changes are prescribed by heredity, but our biological heritage is modulated continuously by our environment and our life experiences.

Humans come with preadapted motor behaviors that are built into the central nervous system. But even reflexes, such as the sucking and grasp reflexes, are quickly modified by the infant's experiences in the world. For the species' survival, these early experiences open a dialogue between the newborn and its new stimulus-rich world. This dialogue provides a cycle of perception and action with consequences. Hand (palm) contact with an adult's strand of hair results in the ...