Motor Development during Infancy and Early Childhood: Overview and Suggested Directions for Research

Abstract

The development of motor competence during infancy and childhood is dependent upon and influenced by the growth and maturity characteristics of the child interacting with the environment in which a child is reared. Environmental opportunities and restraints for movement interact with the biological substrates of growth and maturation to determine the motor repertoire of the child. This paper provides a brief overview of motor development during infancy and early childhood and then highlights several specific areas and/or questions: critical evaluation of stages for specific movement patterns; extension of the dynamical systems framework; genotypic contributions to motor development; metabolic and physiological correlates of motor development; relationship of motor development to the growth of the brain, status at birth and early postnatal growth; and social contexts of motor development.