This study investigated early posture development prospectively in infants at heightened (HR) vs. low risk (Low Risk; LR) for ASD. Fourteen HR infants diagnosed with ASD (HR-ASD), 17 HR infants with language delay (HR-LD), 29 HR infants with no diagnosis (HR-ND), and 25 LR infants were videotaped at home for 25 min during everyday activities and…

Within-individual variability is such an apparent characteristic of infant handedness that handedness is believed to consolidate only in childhood. Research showed that manifest handedness is influenced by emerging postural skills (sitting, crawling, and walking). In this investigation, it was proposed that symmetric hand-use (tendency to acquire…

Purpose: Research indicates that delayed motor development observed in the first years of life can be prevented through compensatory intervention programmes that provide proper care during this critical period of child development. Method: This study analysed the impact of a 12-week compensatory motor intervention programme on 32 babies with…

Infants' motor skill development triggers changes in parent-infant interactions, exploration, and play behaviors, particularly during periods of locomotor transitions. We investigated how these transitions reorganized infants' and mothers' explorations of spatial layouts. Thirteen infants and their mothers were followed biweekly from the age of 6…

The aim of this study was to digitally evaluate the incidence and severity of postural asymmetry in infants with Central Coordination Disturbance (CCD) by using a computer-aided podoscope (PodoBaby) from CQ Elektronik System. A sample of 120 infants aged from 3 months (plus or minus 1 week) to 6 months (plus or minus 1 week) took part in the…

The postural sway patterns of newly standing infants were compared under two conditions: standing while holding a toy and standing while not holding a toy. Infants exhibited a lower magnitude of postural sway and more complex sway patterns when holding the toy. These changes suggest that infants adapt postural sway in a manner that facilitates…

A hierarchical progression in infants' ability to use surface features, such as color, as a basis for object individuation in the first year has been well established (Tremoulet, Leslie, & Hall, 2000; Wilcox, 1999). There is evidence, however, that infants' sensitivity to surface features can be increased through multisensory (i.e.,…

The purpose of the present study was to describe the rate of motor development in infants with Down syndrome in the age range of 3-12 months and identify the difficulties both in performance and acquiring motor skills in prone, supine, sitting and standing positions. Nineteen infants with Down syndrome and 25 healthy full term typical infants were…

Behaviors emerge, in part, from the interplay of infant abilities and caregiver-infant interactions. Cross-cultural and developmental studies suggest caregiver handling and positioning influence infant development. In this prospective, longitudinal study, the effects of 3 weeks of enhanced handling and positioning experiences provided to 14…

Two experiments investigated infants' ability to localize tactile sensations in peripersonal space. Infants aged 10 months (Experiment 1) and 6.5 months (Experiment 2) were presented with vibrotactile stimuli unpredictably to either hand while they adopted either a crossed- or uncrossed-hands posture. At 6.5 months, infants' responses were…

Smith and colleagues (Smith, L. B., Thelen, E., Titzer, R., & McLin, D. (1999). Knowing in the context of acting: The task dynamics of the A-not-B error. "Psychological Review, 106," 235-260) demonstrated that 10-month-olds succeed on a Piagetian AB search task if they are moved from a sitting position to a standing position between A and B…

Motor coordination difficulties and poor fitness exist in the extremely low birthweight (ELBW) population. This study investigated the relative impact of motor coordination on the fitness of ELBW children aged 11 to 13 years. One hundred and nine children were recruited to the study: 54 ELBW participants (mean age at assessment 12y 6mo; 31 male,…

Acoustic properties of the cries of 14 infants were evaluated at both 2 and 4 weeks of age when the infants were lying in a supine position and when they were sitting upright in a car seat. In the upright position, infants' breathing was more rapid and showed less individual variability. The fundamental frequency of their cries increased in the…

The effects of posture on the visual behavior of 15 3-day-old healthy, black, newborn infants were assessed. Findings suggest that the vestibular, proprioceptive, and contact stimulation provided by the on-shoulder position affects the newborn's ability to follow and process visual stimuli. (Author/CS)

Postural sway was measured in 12- to 14-month-old infants and adults while they were standing in the light and dark. Infants did not sway significantly more in the dark than in the light, whereas adults did. These findings indicate that early regulation of standing posture does not depend on visual information. (Author)