Gross motor skills are the abilities usually acquired during childhood as part of a child's motor learning. By the time they reach two years of age, almost all children are able to stand up, walk and run, walk up stairs, etc. These skills are built upon, improved and better controlled throughout early childhood, and continue in refinement throughout most of the individual's years of development into adulthood. These gross movements come from large muscle groups and whole body movement. These skills develop in a head-to-toe order. The children will typically learn head control, trunk stability, and then standing up and walking. It is shown that children exposed to outdoor play time activities will develop better gross motor skills.
Types of motor skills Motor skills are movements and actions of the muscles. Typically, they are categorized into two groups: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are involved in movement and coordination of the arms, legs, and other large body parts and movements. Gross motor skills can be further divided into two subgroups of locomotor skills and object control skills. Gross locomotor skills would include running, jumping, sliding, and swimming. Object control skills would include throwing, catching and kicking. Fine motor skills are involved in smaller movements that occur in the wrists, hands, fingers, and the feet and toes. They participate in smaller actions such as picking up objects between the thumb and finger, writing carefully, and even blinking. These two motor skills work together to provide coordination. Less developed children focus on their gross movements, while more developed children have more control over their fine movements.
Development of posture Gross motor skills, as well as many other activities, require postural control. Infants need to control the heads to stabilize their gaze and to track moving objects. They also must have strength and balance in their legs to walk. Newborn infants cannot voluntarily control their posture. Within a few weeks, though, they can hold their heads erect, and soon they can lift their heads while prone. By 2 months of age, babies can sit while supported on a lap or an infant seat, but sitting independently is not accomplished until 6 or 7 months of age. Standing also develops gradually across the first year of life. By about 8 months of age, infants usually learn to pull themselves up and hold on to a chair, and they often can stand alone by about 10 to 12 months of age. There is a new device called a "Standing Dani" developed to help special needs children with their posture.
Learning to walk
Walking upright requires being able to stand up and balance position from one foot to the other. Although infants usually learn to walk around the time of their first birthday, the neural pathways that control the leg alternation component of walking are in place from a very early age, possibly even at birth or before. When 1- to 2-month-olds, walking 15 months fifteen are given support with their feet in contact with a motorized treadmill, they show well-coordinated, alternating steps. If it were not for the problem of switching balance from one foot to the other, babies could walk earlier. Tests were performed on crawling and walking babies where slopes were placed in front of the path and the babies had to decide whether or not it was safe. The tests proved that babies who just learned how to walk did not know what they were capable of and often went down slopes that were not safe, whereas experienced walkers knew what they could do. Practice plays a big part in teaching a child how to walk. Vision does not have an effect on muscle growth, however it could slow down the child's process of learning to walk. According to the nonprofit Blind Children Center, "Without special training, fully capable infants who are visually impaired may not learn to crawl or walk at an appropriate age and gross and fine motor skills will not properly develop." When the child is not able to see an object then there is no motivation for the child to try to reach for it. Therefore, they do not want to learn independently. Children with visual impairments often experience a delay in achieving static balance, and use objects, such as furniture, for balance longer than children with normal vision. Learning to walk is done by modeling others and watching them. Children when put in environments with older children will observe and try and copy their movements. This helps the child learn through trial and error. Children learning to walk will imitate other children, developing walking and balance skills more quickly than if relying on their own errors. Visually impaired children may need physical therapy to help them learn these gross motor skills faster. One hour of therapy each week is not sufficient so parents have to make sure they are involved in this process. The parent can help by telling the baby the direction where an object is and encourage them to get it. Parents must have patience because every child has their own developmental schedule and it is even more true for the children with special needs. Focus on the child's progress is more important than comparison of the child's development to other children.
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