STAY IN YOUR DEVELOPMENT LANE...
Motor Development is part of physical development and refers to the growth in the ability of children to use their bodies and physical skills. Motor Development can be divided into gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Motor development, as well as motor leaning and motor behavior are applicable to a person's whole lifespan.
Let us begin by defining a few basic terms:
Chronological age – A numeric value representing the length of time a person has lived; Different culture sometime start counting at a different stage of life. For example counting from birth vs counting from conception.
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Biological age - is not chronological, rather than biological; Relates to biological processes and how they relate to one’s life span. Does not necessarily follow chronological time. Examples of how chronological age and biological age do not necessarily advance at the same pace are "early bloomers", "late bloomers", and the fact that multiple environmental factors such as nutrition, exercise, medicine, education, culture, and more can influence a person's biological age, yet will not change the fact that a minute is the same as 60 seconds.
Biological maturation - a comparison of a person’s biological systems' status to that of an adult, where the adult body is referred to as 100% or complete maturation. Early bloomers and late bloomers exhibit different biological maturation.
Psychological maturation - a comparison of the changes in thinking, sense of responsibility, and better ability to adjust to meet successfully the daily issues, to that of a fully mature adult. Early bloomers and late bloomers can exhibit different psychological maturation.
Environmental Factors – influencers of traits and processes that are not heavily or not at all influenced by the genetic information of the person. These may include (yet not limited to):
Physical activity; Exercise; Sports
Nutrition
Education
A person’s actual environment
Home
Family
Culture & ethnicity
Work
Opportunities – social, financial, personal
The environment – weather, climate, pollution, etc.
Other
Biological Factors – influencers of traits and processes that are heavily influenced by the genetic information of the person. These may include (yet not limited to):
Genetic information from mom’s side of the family
Genetic information from dad’s side of the family
Genetic modification (not necessarily genetic engineering)
We use in motor development, motor learning, and motor behavior several age-related term. Let us define them for future use:
Baby - a child the age of 0-1 years old.
Toddler - a child the age of 1-3 years old.
Preschooler - a child the age of 3-5 years old.
School-aged (Child) - a child the age of 5-12 years old.
Teenager - a child the age of 12-18 years old.
Adult - is actually a legal term, less biological in essence. An adult will usually be defined by chronological age and/or their rights and/or obligations according to the law.
Advanced age - a very tricky term to define; No wide consensus necessarily exists; There is a good chance people will agree to define it as a person 50-65 years old.
Elderly - commonly agreed upon as a person that is 65+ years old.
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Very few traits and processes related to humans are 100% determined genetically. The majority of traits , by far, are the result of a combination of influencers both environmental and biological-genetic. Some possible meanings may include (yet not limited to):
Your DNA does not determine everything
It is not a lost battle
Your parents are not always to blame
A person can be “molded” to a certain extent
For better
For worse
Every trait has a combination of biological and environmental influencers that would lead to the “perfect outcome”
The question is as old as wine: what is the combination that leads to a perfect result? - in other words, what is the perfect dose-response to achieve result “X”?
Dose-response coupling are the key to prediction and successfully achieving the same results repeatedly. Yet, how do we create the “perfect” set of stimuli that result in the “perfect” development of a child or person?
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