It is difficult to know what to do with meaning. Some kinesiologists, particularly those in the humanities, would argue that it should be given due attention--perhaps even priority attention. Others would argue that meaning is unimportant or simply impossible to study in any objective way. This conundrum can be solved by adopting a new research…

Investigates in five- to nine-year-old children the visuomanual sinusoidal tracking of target spot on a screen. Proportion of successful performances steadily increases with age, but adult proficiency is never attained even by those who can perform the task. (Author/BE)

This study examined the accuracy and stability of oral motor control in 20 adults and 20 children. Although the children were less accurate and less stable, adults and children exhibited similar variability in their generalized motor program. Results are discussed within the framework of a schema model of motor control, especially the strategic…

This study with 10 adults who stutter and 10 nonstuttering controls completed speech, orofacial nonspeech, and finger isochronous rhythmic timing tasks to investigate the role of timing in stuttering. Findings extend growing evidence that stuttering individuals do not differ from nonstuttering individuals in the ability to generate temporal…

This preliminary investigation of stuttering development and maturation of speech motor processes recorded the electromyographic activity of the orofacial muscles of nine children who stuttered. Results suggest that the emergence of tremor-like instabilities in the speech motor processes of stuttering children may coincide with aspects of general…

Full-term infants who had slept in the prone position since birth were followed to detect early postural abnormalities and differentiate potential peripheral abnormality from abnormalities of a central origin. Results showed that disappearance of initial signs of abnormality appeared to be muscular, and symptoms disappeared faster when a motor…

This study compared the occurrence and characteristics of self-stimulatory behaviors of 5 children with developmental delays and 10 nondisabled children (matched for either mental or chronological age). Few differences were found between groups in percentage of time spent in self-stimulatory behavior, the variety of such behaviors, the speed at…

The study with 21 preschool children found that children receiving a 12-week assessment-based instructional physical education program made significant gains on 6 fundamental motor skills when compared to a control group who received only supervised recess. (Author/DB)

Explores influence of culturally related caretaking practices on motor development among four Bambara infants who were observed for two days with paper-and-pencil event-recording technique and video films. Records were made of spatial positions experienced in daily behavior and postural adjustments required by maternal manipulations during…

Six adults with Down syndrome performed discrete elbow or wrist, flexion or extension movements in a sagittal plane, moving one of the joints as fast as possible. The subjects demonstrated simultaneous bursts of activity in the flexor and extensor muscles controlling both joints. This adaptive feature may reflect a general tendency of these…

This study compared hand preference and motor skills in 20 children with autism with 40 children either typically developing or with developmental delays. Results indicated that the lack of hand preference in children with autism was not a function of their cognitive delay or a lack of motor skills. Results supported the bilateral brain…

Simple observation of dance movement, while very useful, can lead to misconceptions, about the physical realities of dance movement, that make learning difficult. This gap between reality and understanding can be reduced by the application of biomechanical techniques such as cinematography, electromyography, and force-plate analysis. Biomechanical…

Visual discrimination and motor reproduction tasks involving computer-simulated arm movements were administered to 12 adults with mental retardation and a gender-matched control group. The purpose was to examine whether inadequacies in visual perception account for the poorer motor performance of this population. Results indicate both perceptual…

A study of children (ages 3-5 and 11-13) with autism (n=35), learning disabilities (n=26), or no disabilities (n=90) found that the nondisabled children were more lateralized than others in degree and consistency of handedness. No evidence was found of a dissociation of hand skill and hand preference in children with autism, compared to others.…

Eighty at-risk infants were administered the Mental and Motor Scales of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 6 and 12 months of age. Test-retest reliability scores of .71 on the Mental Scale and .69 on the Motor Scale were obtained. (Author/JDD)