Читать книгу Infants and Children in Context - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 244

Gross motor development refers to the ability to control the large movements of the body, actions that help us move around in our environment. Like physical development, motor skills evolve in a predictable sequence. By the end of the first month of life, most infants can reach the first milestone, or achievement, in motor development: lifting their heads while lying on their stomachs. After lifting the head, infants progress through an orderly series of motor milestones: lifting the chest, reaching for objects, rolling over, and sitting up with support (see Table 4.2). Notice that these motor achievements reflect a cephalocaudal progression of motor control, proceeding from the head downward (see Chapter 3) (Payne & Isaacs, 2016). Researchers have long believed that all motor control proceeds from the head downward, but we now know that motor development is more variable. Instead, some infants may sit up before they roll over or not crawl at all before they walk (Adolph & Robinson, 2015). Similarly, infants reach for toys with their feet weeks before they use their hands, suggesting that early leg movements can be precisely controlled, the development of skilled reaching need not involve lengthy practice, and early motor behavior does not necessarily follow a strict cephalocaudal pattern (Galloway & Thelen, 2004).

Table 4.2

Success at initiating forward motion, or crawling (6–10 months), is particularly significant for both infants and parents. Infants vary in how they crawl (Adolph & Robinson, 2015). Some use their arms to pull and legs to push, some use only their arms or only their legs, and others scoot on their bottoms. Once infants can pull themselves upright while holding on to a chair or table, they begin “cruising,” moving by holding on to furniture to maintain their balance while stepping sideways. In many Western industrialized countries, most infants walk alone by about 1 year of age.

Once babies can walk, their entire visual field changes. Whereas crawling babies are more likely to look at the floor as they move, walking babies gaze straight ahead at caregivers, walls, and toys (Kretch et al., 2014). Most beginning walkers, even through 19 months of age, tend to walk in short spurts, a few steps at a time, often ending in the middle of the floor (Cole, Robinson, & Adolph, 2016). Independent walking holds implications for cognitive, social, and emotional development, as it is associated not only with more attention and manipulation of objects but also with more sophisticated social interactions with caregivers, such as directing mothers’ attention to particular objects and sharing. These behaviors, in turn, are associated with advanced language development relative to nonwalkers in both U.S. and Chinese infants (Ghassabian et al., 2016; He et al., 2015).