For the next couple of weeks, the Classroom Activity and the Family Activity will focus on Motor Planning.  This is an often misunderstood term.  I will begin by describing what it is NOT. 

Learning to crawl, walk, jump or climb the stairs

Throwing, bouncing and catching a ball

Swinging a tennis racquet or baseball bat

Learning to use a fork, pencil, scissors

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  These are examples of Motor Skills.  They can be taught and with practice can be mastered.  How easily they can be learned and the quality of execution relates to the underlying motor planning ability each child has.

Motor planning is a true example of,  “The sum of its parts is greater than the whole.”  There are many components to motor planning.  I will list them here:

1. 1. Underlying components of good postural control: core strength, flexibility of movement, equilibrium
   

     reactions/balance.

2.  The ability to link a series of movements fluidly and with good timing.

3.  The ability to couple two motor actions simultaneously.

4.  The ability to generate an idea of how a motor action should occur.

The Motor Story has spent a lot of time discussing many of the components of #1.  The ability of the body to react and coordinate motor responses always requires these components. I have worked with many children who present with clumsy, poor motor coordination.  I had a hunch that underlying motor planning ability was ok and I’d share this with the parents.  Once the core/limb strength developed, ability to reach and bend across the midline of the body automatically, as well as balance effectively were all in place, nice motor planning ability could be seen and these children grew to be strong athletes.  One Mom told me excitedly that in 4th grade her son became the lead pitcher for his Little League team. He had received OT  through second grade for strengthening and coordination issues!

Some people are strong, athletic individuals but the ability to link movements fluidly is not that strong.  Think aerobic dance and the macarena.  I attended a tennis clinic once.  One of the students was a strong athlete.  She ran every day, worked out in the gym.  She had twins but had no evidence of this, as her stomach proudly showed a serious six pack!  The pro attempted to teach her how to serve correctly.  Attempt after attempt failed.  She simply couldn’t link the movements required.  No matter how many private lessons she had, the serve just never got there. 

I ride a bike 50+ miles for a “good time,”  but when the line dancing begins I try to hide.  I have learned the correct sequence for serving a tennis ball but my ability to get the ball moving more than 20 MPH is inconsistent at best.  I share this to help illuminate how there is a continuum to all aspects of motor planning ability.  I can “get” the sequence but it might take effort and practice.  The execution might not be crisp and timing a little off.

Everyone has heard the expression, “He can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.”  This expression describes the motor planning challenged person who struggles to do two things simultaneously.  I notice when I walk with snow shoes in very deep snow, that I need to attend to my stride while I walk.  I am not necessarily conscious of this, but when I direct my attention to something, like rearranging my scarf or blowing my nose,  I might mis-step.  I need a wider based gait for snow shoes so I don’t step on the frame and trip.  My legs are probably only an inch wider but it is not my habituated stride, so when my attention gets diverted to an additional motor task I frequently stumble.

Here is an example of how motor planning translates into children with developing motor control.  We babysat Bobby a few weeks ago.  He was proud to demonstrate his facility in opening and closing a little sippy cup cap.  In fact, each time he took a sip he opened it and then closed it.  Earlier in the evening he had practiced jumping off the one step leading from the kitchen to the family room.  Each visit, he became more proficient at negotiating this step.  He began with figuring out how to crawl down, backwards, forwards etc. and during this visit he had moved beyond stepping down to jumping down.  I must say, landing this on two feet at his age was quite a feat.  Feeling proud and exuberant after exhibiting his prowess with drinking, he ran across the kitchen with cup in hand and lept off the step. He fell.  While Bobby executed each new skill proficiently, both required his full attention to execute successfully.  Holding the cup and leaping off a step required slightly diverted attention from each task and as a result he could not integrate and coordinate the combined motor response successfully. 

My husband noted that as soon as Bobby recovered from the shock (of the face plant...or failing to nail that leap) he immediately mounted the step but crawled instead and continued to crawl with vigor across the room.

When learning new skills, children need to be able to return to old “tried and true” activities/skills.  It provides them with a safe haven, an ability to feel competence and build confidence before moving on to more challenging games.

Next entry we’ll explore the Idea or Ideation of motor planning.

Moving from a “lump” that requires total support...varied experiences help build motor planning along with skill development. Climbing, walking on uneven surfaces, figuring out how to move things, clapping ...

Lead to the ability to link movements such a jumping on a trampoline and negotiating a slide with confidence.

 

                                             

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