In this article, the author comments on an interesting study conducted by Kennedy and colleagues about the relationship between motor development, child rearing practices, and positional plagiocephaly (in recent literature also referred to as deformational plagiocephaly (DP) or nonsynostotic plagiocephaly). From the author's perspective, their…

Discusses contributions of Adolph's study to behavioral knowledge; it is an important study of the early development of a universal basic pattern of human behavior, illuminating how humans perceive the possibilities for action and learn to use them when appropriate opportunities are offered. Notes that the study addresses generalization of newly…

The article stresses the importance of play and playgrounds for children's social, physical, and psychological development. It presents data from a national survey of the status and design of play equipment at elementary schools, suggests ways of making equipment safer, and offers basic principles of play center design. (CB)

Discusses how Adolph's research is relevant to four themes that are foundational to contemporary research on the development of perception and action: (1) reciprocity between perception and action; (2) prospective control of behavior; (3) variation and selection in the development of new behaviors; and (4) contributions of age and experience.…

The impact of movement experiences on cognitive functions and academic achievement on students, in particular the learning-disabled, is described. Cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of motor skills and intellectual abilities are detailed. (CJ)

This article describes the author's experience when visiting her grandson's kindergarten classroom. The author is a parent, and at one time was a kindergarten teacher, program director, supervisor of student teachers, and consultant, so she's been involved for well over 40 years with a vast number of children as they have had their very special…

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…

This paper describes the development of the senses of speech and thought and identifies the physical organs associated with those senses. The child's word sense is born only after the development of the ability to walk. From direct experience, communicated to them by the speech sense, children know that words are different from any other sounds…

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)

This article discusses primary education in Britain and the development of performance indicators for children with movement difficulties. It focuses on children's central movement difficulties as a factor in their total development and calls for early assessment and regular monitoring. (Contains references.) (DB)

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…

After reviewing recent contributions to the field of motor development, suggests a pattern formation or dynamics approach to child development as an alternative to the conventional approaches emphasizing maturation (nativist), specific learning experiences (empiricist), cognitive stages (Piagetian), and strategies of encoding and retrieval…

Introduces this special journal issue re-examining the contributions of Myrtle McGraw to developmental psychology in order to clarify misinterpretations of her work and to highlight dimensions that constitute promising lines of inquiry for contemporary researchers. Maintains that McGraw failed to receive credit for her alternative to…

Discusses how McGraw's work broached the notion of a reciprocal relationship between structural maturation and function, thus anticipating the current understanding of the role of experience in the cortical and motor maturation of infants in the first year of postnatal life. Also presents her clear formulation of a flexible critical period concept…

Reexamines McGraw's research and theoretical principles on early neuromotor development, focusing on unaided walking. Notes that contemporary research supports and clarifies her observations providing greater detail about factors involved in the formation of higher-order control, and amplifying the role of experience. Discusses possible mechanisms…