This article describes the playground of the future. Its design would promote both defined and creative play opportunities for all children including the handicapped. Also discussed is the equipment that would be useful in developing all children's perceptual motor abilities in 11 different areas. (JM)

The author notes that teachers who continually require students to sit still and stop talking apparently prefer to teach a grove of trees rather than a classroom full of students. School environments should be designed to enhance the development of student brains -- and student brains are about movement, not motionless stagnation. 21st century…

Discusses the renaissance of motor skill acquisition studies that are affording new insights into the processes by which infants and children learn to control their bodies. The article explains how studies are now focusing less on how children perform and more on how the components cooperate to produce stability or engender change, thus making…

In this article Tortora, a dance therapist, interviews Myron Hofer, director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Columbia University. Dr. Hofer has spent decades studying how the mother's behaviors and actions shape and regulate the physiological, neurophysiological, and psychological functioning of her babies--specifically,…

Past studies in child development have clearly established that motor development is the basis for later, higher-order developmental processes. The motor developmental approach to learning focuses on the acquisition of skills and concepts in various academic subjects through motor activities. It is based partly on the theory that children, being…

This paper reviews the current literature on the suggested uses of play for assessment, prevention, and intervention with special needs children. The paper also uses case studies to illustrate the ways play is being used to facilitate achievement of early intervention goals and discusses advantages and disadvantages of these uses of play. The…