CHAPTER 7 FINE MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN

CHAPTER 7CHAPTER 7FINE MOTOR SKILL FINE MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS AND DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS AND CHILDRENCHILDREN

Jin Bo & Jane E. Clark

Fine motor skill:

generally refers to those motor skills produced predominantly by the smaller muscles or muscle groups of the body.

§7.1 REACHING AND GRASPING§7.2 DEVELOPMENT OF TOOL USE§7.3 DEVELOPMENT OF DRAWING§7.4 DEVELOPMENT OF HANDWRITING§7.5 DEVELOPMENT OF BIMANUAL

COORDINATION§7.6 APPROACHES TO STUDY THE

DEVELOPMENT OF HAND-EYE COORDINATION

§7.7 SUMMARY

§7.1 REACHING AND GRASPING

Development of the Graspgrasp reflex ： voluntary, adaptive

behaviors

Development of Reachingpre-reaching:

The movements are quick and ballistic extensions that usually miss the target.

successful reaching:

Jerky following a zig-zag trajectory . Depending on online visual feedback

skillful reaching:

They can make more accurate, smooth arm movement trajectories and coordinate their reaching and grasping. In this period, visual feedback can be used but is not necessary.

§7.2 DEVELOPMENT OF TOOL USE Development of Tool Use – Spoon

anticipate the spoon’s arrival by opening their mouth

Reach for the spoon during eating, tend to press their lips to remove the food from the spoon anddraw back their head

Manipulate a spoon in various ways

Feed themselves

Developmental grip patterns

Passively when they are fed

Development of Tool Use – Chopsticks

Wong and colleagues (2002) defined the average age of using chopsticks to finish most of a Chinese meal was 4.6 years

Development of Tool Use - Holding a Writing Implement

palmer grasp (power grip)

the roles of thumb and fingers are differentiated

The mature grasp dynamic tripod

§7.3 DEVELOPMENT OF DRAWING

scribbling stage combine stage aggregate stage pictorial stage it is difficult to set age-related norms experience is One of the most important factors

affecting the drawing development of the child’s

§7.4 DEVELOPMENT OF HANDWRITING

Hamstra-Bletz and Blote (1990) :Thirteen characteristics of handwriting were

clustered into different aspects: development of fine motor ability stylistic preference structural performance temporal and spatial characteristics of the children’s

movements dysgraphia

Development of Handwriting – Chinese

Writing Chinese characters (HanZi) is unique and more complex than writing English letters.

two challenge for Chinese writing :• sequencing • spatial configuration

Recognizing a Chinese character is considered much more important than learning how to write Chinese before the elementary age.

less-stroke characters

more- less-stroke characters

It is hard to determine the age-related norms for Chinese handwriting since this type of skill is highly influenced by the environment such as opportunities for practice and teaching methods.

§7.5 DEVELOPMENT OF BIMANUAL COORDINATION

symmetrical bimanual coordination :

both hands with similar and simultaneous patterns

For example:

the Moro reflex

asymmetrical bimanual coordination :Other bimanual movements require different roles for the two hands

a mirror image movement / a parallel movement

symmetrical bimanual coordination /asymmetrical bimanual coordination

hands at the same velocity /at different velocities

primary manipulator :

The hand that is manipulating the object complementary manner :

the other hand that is used to stabilize the object

For example:

the Moro reflex

§7.6 APPROACHES TO STUDY THE DEVELOPMENT OF HAND-EYE COORDINATION

control system perspective

feedback:a process whereby sensory information arising from the body is fed back to the brain

closed-loop systems

输入

执行

效应器

输出

比较器

实际状态

错误反馈

反馈

目标状态

Feedforward: the movement is based on the representation in the brain of the intended action

the velocity profiles between children and adults

the adaptation paradigm

DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS APPROACH

An example of the dynamical systems approach :

Thelen and her colleagues who conducted a longitudinal study of infants’ reaching (Thelen et al., 1993). They found that different infants have different developmental paths on the way to successful reaching

Behavioral Neuroscience Approach

The behavior changes and brain development are shaping each other across the life span.

The cerebellum is one of the more important structures that has been proposed to be critical in fine motor skill development

There is no straightforward linkage between brain structure and observed behavior.

Huge variability exists in the human brain suggesting that behavior changes cannot be explained by a single factor.

§7.7SUMMARY Fine motor skills refer to those movements

predominantly produced by the small muscles or muscle groups of the body. These skills usually involve the hands and eyes. The development of skillful fine motor movements is one of the most important developmental achievements in infancy and early childhood owing to their importance in survival (i.e., feeding) and later in tool use and handwriting.

Fine motor skills typically are performed by the hands, e.g. reaching, grasping, feeding, and writing; although there are non-hand fine motor skills such as, picking up stones with the toes or eye movement.