The aim of this study was to explore motor development in children with cerebral palsy (CP) using developmental curves for CP, subtypes, and the five severity levels of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and the GMFCS were applied to 317 children (145 females, 172 males) with CP, aged…

In this study of the visual placing response (an extension of the paws or arms on approach to a visual surface), infants extended their arms almost as much to a gray surface as to a patterned one. (Author/CS)

Research supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant MH-6415.

Children's serial motor skill acquisition was studied within a neo-Piagetian framework. High and low M-processors (a designation of a child's ability to produce problem solutions) performed on a curvilinear repositioning task. A primacy-recency effect was evidenced for both groups on the age-related task, while a recency effect occurred for only…

Discusses contributions of Adolph's study to behavioral knowledge; it is an important study of the early development of a universal basic pattern of human behavior, illuminating how humans perceive the possibilities for action and learn to use them when appropriate opportunities are offered. Notes that the study addresses generalization of newly…

Discusses general developmental principles which have emerged from studies in motor development. (RJC)

The article stresses the importance of play and playgrounds for children's social, physical, and psychological development. It presents data from a national survey of the status and design of play equipment at elementary schools, suggests ways of making equipment safer, and offers basic principles of play center design. (CB)

Two groups of infants were studied to demonstrate that changes in reaching are determined by the interaction of organismic and environmental constraints. The infants were placed in three different positions and observed for quantity and quality of reaching. Results indicated that both environmental constraints and growth contribute to reaching in…

This paper is in memory of Esther Thelen, who passed away while President of the Society for Research in Child Development. A survey of Esther Thelen's career reveals a trajectory from early work on simple movements like stepping, to the study of goal-directed reaching, to work on the embodiment of cognition, and, ultimately, to a grand theory of…

Self-regulation and self-determination are part of a continuum of behaviors that are acquired through interaction with the social and physical environment and through problem solving based on experiences that begin in infancy and build throughout early childhood. These abilities should be nurtured early for all children, especially within the…

This study presents some highlights of what research tells the practitioner about the motor learning of children. Major emphasis is on motor learning in relation to the physical and motor characteristics of the child's maturation and development. In the first three sections of the study, general ideas concerning motor learning are discussed.…

This manual describes activities and games intended to enhance the development of visual and auditory perception skills during the various stages of a child's growth. The program is structured to reinforce the child's increasingly complex motor skill development. (CS)

The author examines the relationships existing between movement and cognition in child development. (MJB)

This review of the developmental readiness of normal, full-term infants to progress from exclusive breastfeeding to the introduction of complementary foods is the result of the international debate regarding the best age to introduce complementary foods into the diet of the breastfed human infant. After a list of definitions, four papers focus on:…

Examined how infants acquire adaptive locomotion in the novel task of going up and down slopes. Found that infants' judgments became increasingly accurate and exploration became increasingly efficient, with no transfer over the transition from crawling to walking. Infants learned to gauge their abilities on-line as they encountered each hill at…