There is a good argument that in order to truly understand the influences that shape child motor development, one must consider environmental influences that reflect the multilevel ecological contexts that interact with the changing biological characteristics of the child. Although there are theories typically associated with motor development…

Some of the characteristics and behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), such as difficulty with social interactions and sensory integration, make physical education instruction difficult. Children with ASD also encounter movement difficulties, such as motor-planning and anticipatory deficits. One way to enhance the ability of…

This paper seeks to foster a discussion on whether experiments with robots can inform theory in infant motor development and specifically (1) how the interactions among the parts of a system, including the nervous and musculoskeletal systems and the forces acting on the body, induce organizational changes in the whole, and (2) how exploratory…

Although significant attention has been given to promoting physical activity among children, little attention has been given to the developmental process of how children learn to move or to the changing role that motor skill development plays in children's physical activity levels as they grow. In order to successfully address the obesity…

The objective of this article is to describe the historical development of sport and exercise psychology, with a particular emphasis on the construction and evolution of the "box" through history. The box represents the dominant paradigm that serves as the model for research and application as it evolves through successive historical eras (Kuhn,…

A fundamental problem for those interested in human communication is to determine how ideas and the various units of language structure are communicated through speaking. The physiological concepts involved in the control of muscle contraction and movement are theoretically distant from the processing levels and units postulated to exist in…

The I CAN--Achievement-Based Curriculum (ABC) project is designed to train regular and special education teachers and regular physical educators to implement individualized, assessment-based instruction of the physical and motor needs of handicapped students in their classes. The ABC is a process model for training teachers how to plan, assess,…

The document--two thirds of which consists of appendixes--presents the final report of Project PREP (Preschool Recreation Enrichment Program), which evaluated a handicapped preschool children's recreation program emphasizing motor, socialization, self concept, and language development. The need for preschool recreation programs for handicapped…

In a report entitled "Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers" (National Academy of Sciences, 1995), the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy proposed a modified PhD training model that retains an emphasis on intensive research experiences, while incorporating additional experiences to prepare graduates for an…

The document--half of which consists of appendixes--is intended as a guide for developing and implementing preschool recreation programs for handicapped children, based on the Preschool Recreation Enrichment Program (PREP) model. Information on the growth and development of both normal and handicapped preschool children is presented, touching upon…