A device for use in a motor learning laboratory is described. (MM)

Five resistive activities (activities which integrate symmetric tonic neck reflex and facilitate learning) for use with problem learners are briefly described. Reports on using resistive activities with learning disabled children are offered. (SBH)

This study with 10 adults who stutter and 10 nonstuttering controls completed speech, orofacial nonspeech, and finger isochronous rhythmic timing tasks to investigate the role of timing in stuttering. Findings extend growing evidence that stuttering individuals do not differ from nonstuttering individuals in the ability to generate temporal…

Contains abstracts from the 2002 conference of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity. The publication is divided into three sections: the preconference workshop, "Effective Teaching Methods in the Classroom;" symposia (motor development, motor learning and control, and sport psychology); and free…

A description of the development of movement by infants covers prenatal influences, gravity influences, sensory aspects of motor skills, deformities and deviations in the developmental sequence, and ways to assist infants with abnormal development patterns. (CB)

Presents research on the effects of concurrent verbal cognition on locomotor skills. Results revealed no interference with coordination variables across age, but some interference with control variables, particularly in younger subjects. Coordination of gait required less attention than setting of control parameters. This coordination was in place…

The effects of practice on 2 elementary neuromotor patterns, stepping and sitting, were investigated in 32 6-week-old male infants. After 7 weeks, infants who received elicitation of the stepping pattern, alone or in combination with sitting exercises, stepped more than infants who received no exercise or sitting exercise only. (MDM)

When tendon jerk reflexes were tested in seven newborns from one- to three-days old, stretch reflex responses in all major muscle groups of the lower limb were elicited. This "irradiation of reflexes" is a normal phenomenon in newborns, with the pathway becoming suppressed during normal maturation. In individuals with cerebral palsy,…

The organization and structuring of spontaneous arm movements of eight neonates were studied quantitatively, with each movement divided into an acceleration phase and a deceleration phase. Found that the movements of the two arms were coupled in all three dimensions of space and had a tendency to follow the body's longitudinal axis. (MDM)

Prosody is complex and hierarchically organized but is realized as rhythmic movement sequences. Thus, observations of the development of rhythmic aspects of movement can provide insight into links between motor and language processes, specifically whether prosodic distinctions (e.g., feet and prosodic words) are instantiated in rhythmic movement…

Feeding problems are common even in typically developing infants and children. However, they are more frequent and persistent in children with developmental disabilities. This article will provide an overview of current literature and a rationale underlying the interventions used for children with cerebral palsy (CP) who have eating impairments…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a short intervention program designed to enhance the educators' ability to identify children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Twenty early childhood and 20 physical education teachers (n = 40) participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned into an…

Purpose: To investigate the developmental time course of tongue-to-palate contact patterns during speech from childhood to adulthood using electropalatography (EPG) and a comprehensive profile of data analysis. Method: Tongue-to-palate contacts were recorded during productions of /t/, /l/, /s/, and /k/ in 48 children, adolescents and adults (aged…

Individuals diagnosed with autism suffer from numerous social, affective and linguistic impairments. It has also been suggested that they have a global imitation deficit. That hypothesis, however, is compromised by the fact that individuals with autism suffer from various motor impairments. Here we describe an experiment on cognitive imitation, a…

Research suggests that allowing individuals to control their own practice schedule has a positive effect on motor learning. In this experiment we examined the effect of task difficulty and self-regulated practice strategies on motor learning. The task was to move a mouse-operated cursor through pattern arrays that differed in two levels of…