Motor Development theories Flashcards
What is definition of child development?
Change in child that occurs over time
T/F: In child development, changes follow an orderly pattern that moves toward greater complexity and enhances survival?
True
What are the periods of development?
Prenatal: conception to birth Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years Early childhood: 2-6 years old Middle childhood: 6-12 years old Adolescence: 12-19 years old
How is development described?
In three domains
T/F: Growth in one domain does not influence the other domains?
False: growth in one domain DOES influence the other domains
What are the 3 domains of development?
Physical domain
Cognitive domain
Social/emotional domain
What are the aspects of the physical domain?
body size, body proportions, appearance, brain development, motor development, perception capacities, physical health
What are the aspects of cognitive domain?
thought processes and intellectual abilities including attention, memory, problem solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge, metacognition, and language
What are the aspects of social/emotional domain?
self-knowledge (self-esteem, metacognition, sexual identity, ethic identity), moral reasoning, understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation, temperament, understanding others, inter-professional skills, and friendships
What is a theory and why are theories important?
Theory= orderly set of ideas which describe, explain, and predict behavior
Importance: give meaning to what we observe, basis for action (finding ways to improve the lives and education of children)
What are the motor developmental theories?
Neural-Maturationist (driven by CNS/nature)
Cognitive (driven by environment/nurture)
Dynamical systems
What are the beliefs of the neural-maturationist theory?
Assumes hierarchical nature of nervous system maturation
Attributes normal motor development to increasing corticalization of CND
Functional behaviors appear as nervous system matures
Development is built upon reflexes
Assumes CNS maturation is primary agent for change in development
What theory believes that development is built upon reflexes and that CNS maturation is primary agent for change in development?
Neural-maturationist
Using the neural-maturationist model how were pediatric patients managed?
Emphasis placed on examination of stages of reflex development and motor milestones as reflections of increasingly higher levels of neural maturation.
Treatment was organized around inhibition of primary reflexes that were believed to persist and produce activity limitations along with facilitation of righting and equilibrium reactions that were supposedly underlying coordinative structures for development of skilled voluntary motor behavior
Who pioneered neural-maturationist theory?
gesell and McGraw
What is ethology?
Examines how behavior is determined by a species need for survival.
Describes a “critical period” or “sensitive period” for learning
Has roots in Charles Darwin’s research
What does ethology emphasize?
Genetic and biological roots of development
Also considers learning as important because it lends flexibility and adaptiveness to behavior
Who is the ethologist known for his research on imprinting?
Konrad Lorenz
What area believes that a person’s behavior is determined by a species need for survival?
Ethology
What is the attachment theory?
Attachment between and infant and her caregiver can insure the infant’s survival.
John Bowlby applied ethological principles to his theory of attachment
What are aspects of the behavioral (skinner) cognitive theory?
Development occurs through interaction between individual and environment
Contingency learning and positive reinforcement
Pavlovian conditioning
What are aspects of Piagetian cognitive theory?
Development occurs through interaction between cognitive-neural structures and environmental opportunities
First actions are reflexive, then become voluntary
What is Jean Piaget’s cognitive development theory?
Children “construct” their understanding of world through their active involvement and interactions.
Described children’s understanding as their “schemas” and how they use: assimilation and accommodation
What is Piaget’s cognitive development stages?
Sensori motor
Preoperation
Concrete operations
Formal operations
What is the sensori-motor stage?
birth-2 year old
Infant uses senses and motor abilities to understand the world
What is the preoperation stage?
2-7 years old
Child uses mental representations of objects and is able to use symbolic thought and language
What is concrete operation stage?
7-11 years old
Child uses logical operations or principles when solving problems
What is the formal operation stage?
ages 12 and up
Use of logical operations in a systematic fashion and with the ability to use abstractions
What was emphasized in B.F. Skinners theory?
Behavioral approach to development that emphasized importance of contingent learning with reinforcement from environment being the motivator and shaper of both motor and cognitive development.
Environment is site of developmental approach
What was the socio-cultural theory?
Children are active learners but their knowledge is socially constructed.
Cultural values and customs dictate what is important to learn.
Children learn more from expert members of society
“Zone of proximal development” is where learning occurs
What is the zone of proximal development?
distance between actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers
What is the information processing theory?
Uses model of computer to describe how the brain works
Focuses on how info is perceived, how info is stored in memory, how memories are retrieved and then used to solve problems
Who was John Watson?
“Father of American behaviorist theory”
Based his work on digestive system of dogs
researched classical conditioning
Children are passive beings who can be molded by controlling the stimulus response associations
What is the social learning theory?
Stressed how children learn by observation and imitation
Believed that children gradually become more selective in what they imitate
Discovered by Albert Bandura
What is the belief of the dynamical systems theory?
Development of motor pattern depends on combination of mechanical, neurologic, cognitive, and perceptual factors in addition to environmental contributions.
T/F: In the dynamical systems model neural maturation is equal to the other structures and processes that influence motor development?
True
What is the main belief of the dynamical systems model?
Environment is as important as the organism.
Because cooperating systems don’t develop at same rate, certain components are seen as rate limiting or constraining to performance of specific behavior.
How is movement described in the dynamical systems model?
Movements are self-organizing and emerge as a result of interaction between the subsystems.
What are the subsystems in the dynamical model? How do they develop?
Cooperating subsystem include: musculoskeletal, sensory, central sensorimotor integrative, arousal and motivation
Each subsystem develops at its own rate, but is constrained or supported by physical and environmental factors
What are control parameters, rate limiters, and attractors?
Control parameters: variables that regulate change in the behavior (movement of child)
Rate limiters: factors that limit the ability of child to move
Attractors: stable movement patterns (preferred but not obligatory)
What is the ecological systems theory or bio-ecological theory?
Varied systems of environment and the inter relationships among the systems shape a child’s development.
Both biology and environment influence development
Environment affects the child and the child influences the environment
What are the different systems of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model?
Microsystem: activities and interactions in immediate surroundings (parents, school, friends)
Mesosystem: relationships among the entities involved in child’s microsystem
Exosystem: social institutions which affect children indirectly (parent’s work settings, mass media, community resources)
Macrosystem: broader cultural values, laws, government
Chronosystem: changes occurring during child’s life both personally and culturally
How can dynamical systems be used in PT
Search for rate limiters or constraints in the subsystems
Manipulate control parameters during intervention
Set up therapeutic environment to practice in meaningful context
Promote variety of movement patterns
Create an environment that supports strengths or compensates for weaknesses
What are the 3 principles of development?
Cephalocaudal principle: head downward, child first gains control of head, then arms, then legs
Proximodistal principle: development goes from center of body outward, SC develops before other parts of body, arms develop before hands, hands and feet develop before toes and fingers
Maturation: sequence of biological changes in kids, depends on changes in brain and nervous system, changes assist child to improve their thinking abilities and motor skills
What is order of nervous system maturation
Spinal cord
Brainstem
Cerebellum
Cortex
What are theories of nervous system maturation?
Neuronal group selection
Experience dependent maturation
Experience expectant maturation
What is Experience dependent maturation?
continuing process of creation and organization of neuron connections that occurs as result of person’s life experiences
What is experience expectant maturation?
Normal, generalized development of neuron connections that occur as result of common experiences that all humans are exposed too in a normal environment.
These early experiences are: visual stimulation, sound, bodily movement
What are sensitive periods?
Time when children vary in their selection of movement strategy in response to a particular task.
May be result of experience-dependent maturation (production, strengthening, and pruning of synapses based on experience)
Could interventions provided before pruning be more effective than interventions provided after.
What is the spiraling pattern of development?
development is not linear
As kids develop a skill they may go back to an earlier form of behavior as new more mature and adaptive versions of these skills emerge
T/F: Periods of stability or equilibrium drive the developmental process?
False: instability or dis-equilibrium drives the developmental process
When might interventions be more effective?
During sensitive periods
