FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Fine motor behavior includes the use of the hands and fingers in the grasp of an object. Grasping occurs during the first 2 – 3 months as a reflex and gradually becomes voluntary. At 1 month of age the hands are predominantly closed, and by 3 months they are mostly open. By this time, infants demonstrate a desire to grasp an object, but they “grasp” it more with the eyes than with the hands.
Gradually the palmar grasp(using whole hand) is replaced with a pincer graps(thumb and fingers). By 8 – 9 months of age the infant uses a crude pincer graps and by 11 months has progressed to a neat pincer grasp
By 10 months of age, the pincer grasp is sufficiently established. They can deliberately let go of an object and will offer it to someone. By 11 months they put objects into a container and like to remove them. By age 1 year, infants try to build a tower of two blocks but fail.
GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Head Control:
The full-term newborn can momentarily hold the head in midline and parallel when the body is suspended ventrally and can lift and turn the head from side to side when prone. Infants do not have the head control to lift their head out of the depression of the object and therefore risk suffocation in the prone position early in infancy (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Marked head lag is evident when the infant is pulled from a lying to a sitting position.
Only slight head lag is evident when the infant is pulled from a lying to a sitting position, and by 4 – 6 months, head control is well established
Rolling Over:
Newborns may roll over accidentally because of their rounded back. The ability to willfully turn from the abdomen to the back occurs around 5 months, and the ability to turn from the back to the abdomen at approximately 6 months.
While the infant is awake, a prone position is acceptable to enchance achievement of milestones such as head control, crawling, creeping, and turning over.
Sitting:
The ability to sit follows progressive head control and straightening of the back. For the first 2 to 3 months, the back is uniformly rounded. The convex cervical curve forms at approximately 3 to 4 months of age, when head control is established.
Locomotion:
Locomotion involves acquiring the ability to bear weight, proper forward on all four extremities, stand upright with support and, finally, walk alone. Following a cephalocuadal pattern, infants 4 to 6 months old have increasing coordination in their arms.
Crawling(propelling forward with belly on floor) progresses to creeping on hands and knees(with belly off the floor) by 9 months. At this time they stand while holding onto furniture and can pull themselves to the standing position, but they are unable to maneuver back down except falling.
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