My Mountain of Motor Development
Taylor Smith
Skillful Period
11+ years
Movements during this period are voluntary, efficient, adaptive, and consistent.
Compensation Period
Context-Specific Period
Not necessarily age dependent
7-11 years
- This period is where a skilled individual is compensating for a change due to organism constraints
- Motor skill performance shows a decline from the previous level of skillfulness
- Injury-induced compensation is where there is change in organism constraints due to an injury
- Age-associated compensation is where changes in organism constraints are associated with the process of aging
- This ontogenetic stage is promoted by ones culture, family, and friends
- Acquisition of these skills are dependent on context-based knowledge and experiences, fine and gross motor skills, and practice and instruction become important mediators
Fundamental Motor Patterns Period
1-7 years
- This period is a phylogenetic stage where the building blocks are acquired for late context-specific skills
- Some of the building blocks include fundamental locomotor patterns, interactive coordination patterns, and fundamental fine motor manipulative patterns
- This period ends with being able to apply fundamental motor patterns to a specific context
Preadapted Period
2 weeks post birth-1 year
- This period, which consists of phylogenetic movements, is where the reflexive movements become voluntary
- Environmental constraints play a very small role and biological constraints play a very important role
- This period ends with the attainment of independent walking and self-feeding
Mountain of Motor Development
Reflexive Period
3rd gestational month-2 weeks post birth
- Consists of spontaneous & reflexive movements
- Reflexes are primitive patterns of coordination and are important because they are needed for survival and opening a dialogue with the environment
- Some reflexes include rooting, sucking, plamar & plantar grasp, and moro