Development and Motor Learning Flashcards
How contexts affect development
Cultural: customs, beliefs, behavior standards
Physical: nonhuman aspects of environment
Social: Availability/anticipation of behaviors by others
Personal: Child’s age, gender, eco status, education
Temporal: Stage of life, time of year, length of occ.
Virtual: Communication by means of computers, etc.
Gestation
Period of development of fetus in utero and at birth.
Prenatal: before birth (typically 40 weeks)
Perinatal: around birth
Postnatal: post-birth (infant is a neonate)
Infancy
Period of development from birth to 18 months.
• Significant physical/emotional growth
• Development of sensory/motor skills (delays can be crucial at this stage)
• Walking, talking, performing self-care tasks (eating from spoon, drinking from cup, undressing)
Early Childhood
Period of development from 18 mo. to 5 years.
• Become increasingly independent and develop sense of individuality.
• Fewer developmental milestones.
Middle Childhood
Period of development from 6 years to puberty.
• Spend 1/3 of time in educational settings.
• Influence shifts from parents to peers.
Adolescence
Period of development from puberty (~12) to 21 yrs.
• Physical and psychological development that accompanies onset of puberty.
• Hormonal changes and resulting challenges.
• Ends with onset of adulthood.
Principles of Normal Development:
- Development is sequential and predictable.
- Maturation and experience affect a child’s development.
- Changes occur in the biological, psychological, and social systems.
- Development progresses vertically (levels related to specific skills/occupations) and horizontally (in different performance skills/occupations).
3 Basic Rules of Motor Development
1) Cephalocaudal Progression (head to tail) - baby is able to control head/neck, then arms, then trunk, then legs.
2) Proximal to Distal Progression - Children develop control of structures close to body (shoulder) before farther away (hand.
3) Gross to Fine Motor - Children control large body movements before refined movements.
Motor Learning (define):
Learning and refinement of motor skills over time.
• Takes place in complex interaction betw child and environment.
• Refers to intrinsic process that accompanies child experiencing and participating in meaningful activities and long-lasting changes in motor performance.
• Based on principles of NEUROPLASTICITY (brain changes and makes new pathways, esp. in children)
Neuroplasticity:
The ways the brain changes by laying down new circuitry and making new neural connections.
• Occur when brain receives new info/stimuli
• In response, permanent changes happen in brain
• Learning requires feedback, feedforward, practice, modeling and transfer of learning.
Feedback vs. Feedforward
Feedback = Figuring out the activity. Comes AFTER performance of activity. Adjustments made based on performance/reflection.
Feedforward = Ability to plan for activity. Comes BEFORE the performance of activity. Adjustments made based on anticipation of movement required.
Principles of Motor Control:
Ability to regulate or direct the mechanisms essential to movement.
• Role of CNS, techniques to quantify movement, nature and quality of movement
• Addresses posture, mobility, and fine motor and gross motor skills; explores motor dev. throughout lifespan
• Supports DYNAMIC SYSTEMS approach.
Motor Control (define):
Ability to regulate or direct the mechanisms essential to movement.
Dynamic Systems Theory
Interplay betw neuromuscular system, environment, cognition, and the intended task.
• Change in one system affects the others.
• One task involves dynamic interaction of many systems (visual, proprio, tactile, etc.)
• To engage, one must have intent to move (guided by cognitive process)
• Change leads to neuroplasticity.
3 Pillars of Motor Control
Can be a ven diagram. Interventions for children are:
1) Meaningful (children engage more in meaningful tasks)
2) Closely Mimic Occupations of Childhood
3) Occur in Natural Context (setting similar to natural place where occ happens)
Feedback
Feedback = Results.
• Informs about progress in acquiring new skills.
• Before (feedforward) and after (feedback) performance.
• Intrinsic (within the child)
• Extrinsic (provided by external source)
• Verbal and nonverbal
• Consider type, timing, motor outcomes.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Feedback
Intrinsic: info the child received following a practice attempt (internal; nervous system processes).
Extrinsic: provided by others, or even by activity itself; helpful in identifying errors in movement. *Children respond to consistent ext. feedback with learning new skill, and it becomes internalized with practice.
Timing of Feedback
May be provided in various ways:
• Concurrent: during movement.
• Immediate: following movement.
• Terminal: right at completion of movement
• Delayed: after movement completed and time has transpired.
• Sporadic*: following some but not every trial; found to be more beneficial.
Modeling or Demonstration
Modeling = Just watching someone do it. Demonstration = Instruction provided while watching.
• Visual information on how to perform a task/skill.
• Most effective when presented in natural context.
• Demos best if provided:
- Before practicing and in early stages of learning;
- Slowly, without verbal feedback;
- After emphasizing critical cues;
- Throughout practice as frequently as is helpful.
Verbal Instruction
- Can be used to teach children motor skill
- Only as successful as instruction is detailed!
- Practice is preceded or accompanied by verbal instruction or cues (brief, 1-3 words)
- Once child completes key components, OT may provide addtl verbal instruction to refine movement
- Providing repetitive practice w/same verbal instruction reinforces learning.
Knowledge of Results vs. Knowledge of Performance
Knowledge of Results (KR): Info provided from external source about outcome or end result. Helps children retain newly learned motor skills.
Knowledge of Performance: Providing info about nature or characteristic of the movement. Helps children understand how they could adjust or change movements.
Types of Practice
Blocked Practice: Repeating similar movements with short rest breaks.
Distributed: Repetition of different skills spread over course of intervention with rest breaks.
Variable/Random: Practice of many different skills with periods of rest.
- ** Practicing PERFECT makes perfect!
- ** Repetition of motor tasks enhances brain development.
Transfer of Learning/Generalization
Applying past learning to new situations.
• Works best when client has opportunity for mastery of foundational skills first.
• Then, incorporate different/new skills.
Motor Memory
Registration of influence and internal feedback from the motor output back into the sensory system.
• After the motor/sensory link is when learning occurs.
• “Automatizing” the skill.
• Motor control best addressed by engaging child in meaningful activities closely mimicking occupations of childhood and occur in natural context. (ex: Char’s story of teaching her grandson to tie his shoe with “middle finger” which is a playground gag.)