Mountain of Motor Development
Autobiography of Christi Lehaf
Skillful Period
(~11 + years)
- Top of the mountain
- All movement can be considered:
- efficient - most effective way to perform the movement, minimal physical effort
- consistent - being able to reproduce the movement each time it's needed
- adaptive - being able to adjust movement based on the situation
Compensation
- When someone who has already reached the skillful phase must compensate or make up for an organism constraint
- Usually not optimal but can still be skillful
- Age of onset depends on what caused the need for compensation
- Causes can be either due to an injury or the aging process
Olympic Softball Pitcher, Jennie Finch, icing her shoulder after injury
Context-Specific Period
(~7 ~ 11 years)
- Skills gained in this period are ontogenetic, or unique to the individual
- Experience changes in cognitive capabilities, such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment
- Both fine and gross motor skills
- Influenced by family, friends, and culture
- My parents drove me to all of my practices and attended most of my games
- I had friends who played on my teams with me
- Gaining these skills depends on knowledge and experience
- Skills better attained with instruction and practice
- I began to attend softball camps, when not in season, that provided me with constant guidance and practice
Fundamental Motor Patterns Period
(~1 ~ 7 years)
- Behaviors considered to be fundamental or essential in order to develop other motor skills later on
- Also known as "the building blocks" for later skills
- Involves interactive coordination patterns such as object projection or object interception
- Involves fine motor manipulative patterns, which require precision and dexterity
- Can always return to this phase on the mountain when learning new skills
A picture from a game on my travel softball team. An example of the skills gained in this phase is the precision necessary to project a ball accurately and with enough speed
Preadapted Period
(~ 2 weeks after birth ~ 1 year)
- Consists of phylogenetic (species-typical) behaviors, so the environment does not have much of an impact on this period
- Predisposition for certain motor behaviors
- Biological constraints have a strong impact on this period
- Ends with the attainment of self-feeding and independent walking
Reflexive Period
3rd gestational month ~ 2 weeks after birth
- Movements within this period are either reflexive or spontaneous
- reflexive - stereotypical response to certain stimuli
- spontaneous - movement that doesn't seemed to be caused by any external stimuli
- Reflexes are necessary for survival, protection, opening a relationship with the environment, and primitive patterns of coordination
- Ends with voluntary movement