Motor development

Motor development is a component of a bigger picture. Generally there are three components in the development of a child: motor coordination, cognitive and social-emotional. These three components are important in our behavior. For example: if you try to catch a ball during a ball game, you need to know the rules of the game (cognitive), you need the confidence to try catching the ball (social-emotional), and you need the skills to actually catch the ball (motor coordination).

In some activities one of the components is more present than the other two. But in general these are all present.

Children develop at all components by playing. For most children this development goes automatically. But sometimes the development of one or more components stays behind potentially causing multiple problems.

A child with difficulties in the gross motor skills could have problems with playing at the schoolyard. It cannot come up with its peers and stands on the side during playtime. This could cause problems in the social-emotional development.

Sometimes a child is smart enough to learn how to write, but the fine motor skills are inadequate to create readable letters. Trying to hard could cause tension pain in the arm or neck. It could also lead to a huge frustration in learning how to write and could even be the beginning of an aversion towards school.

All kind of difficulties in motor activities can cause a lack of self-esteem. Not every child needs to be a top athlete or an artist, but it is important children can come up with the level of their peers.

There are different types of motor problems in children. It is often difficult to detect a motor problem. Please find below some examples of motor problems. These examples are divided in fine motor problems and gross motor problems.