Relationships between motor and speech development and between speech and cognitive development are considered. Discussion first focuses on issues of motility, speech, and cognition. Brief descriptions of Steiner's postulated six additional senses--of warmth, movement, life, speech or word, thought, and ego--are provided as preparation to the…

An adaptive physical education program was implemented for two special classes of educable mentally retarded children, grades K-3 in California. Children from a regular kindergarten class also participated in the program. The program operated for 5 months, with children receiving motor skills training 40 minutes per day, 4 days per week. Analysis…

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)

Identifies those error items on the Bender-Gestalt Test which tend to discriminate over age and identifies those items which do not discriminate beyond certain ages. (RB)

The author briefly surveys early psychomotor development in children, the process of separation-individualization during the first three years of life, and the effect that early experience may have on subsequent actual physical movement. The studies of Jean Piaget and Margaret Mahler provide a framework for examining the notions of space…

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

An early intervention program for 14 Down's syndrome children (4 to 15 months old) and their parents included individualized guidance for parents in teaching their infant. Home activities centered on tasks to develop attention: cognitive, perceptual, motor, and language skills. Emphasis was placed on a structured teaching approach with…

Desk and chair activities for use with handicapped and nonhandicapped elementary children in the classroom are described. The activities require minimal equipment while providing opportunities for vigorous physical movement. Activities are discussed which feature using the aisles between desks, sitting at the desks, and performing circuit and…

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…

This paper reports a study which examined the relationships of various facets of sensorimotor performance to abilities measured by a developmental examination of a sample of full-term and pre-term infants nine months after expected term date. This study addressed three questions: (1) Are there differences in the sensorimotor development of term…

This study investigated whether age, sex, speed, and practice affects the acquisition of coincidence-anticipation (C/A) performance accuracy of children ages seven to twelve. (C/A refers to the ability to make a motor response coincident with the arrival of an object at a designated point.) The subjects used in this study were 84 elementary…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of three treatments of knowledge of results on the acquisition of an open complex motor skill requiring speed and accuracy (coincidence-anticipation). The 75 volunteer male subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. One group was given informative knowledge of results;…

This report describes the movement characteristics of a three year old boy and girl as they performed a one-handed striking task over a one year period. Observations were made at 4 month intervals as part of a filmed, longitudinal study on the development of motor patterns. The one-handed striking pattern was elicited by asking the children to hit…