Psychomotor
development
This third post of the blog will be mainly
focused on the psychomotor development of the individual as so as the different
processes that the subject goes through and acquires during it. It has to be
considered that the psychomotor dimension entails the capability of the
individual of expressing oneself with efficiency in the context where he/she is
immersed thanks to the interrelation among the cognitive functions, the
emotions and the physical movement.
A learning task is considered within the
psychomotor dimension if it requires motor control and coordinating muscular
movements. Although the movement and its control is essential in this type of
tasks, the senses play an important role when carrying out this processes as
they are the ones that allow the individual to perceive external stimulus
coming from the environment where he/she is found and then act according the
information received.
Which developmental line follows?
The first one states that the first part that
the individual is able to control is the head. The development leads the
subject to the control of the movement of lower parts such as the neck, the
chest, the hips, the legs, the feet and finally the toes.
The latter raises that the nearest parts to the
body axis are the first ones to be controlled. Thus, the shoulder would be the
first part to acquire control and arms, wrists hands and fingers are the
following.
The following video exemplifies both Cefalocaudal
and Proximodistal laws by showing some images of kids that are in this
developmental stage.
Once these two laws have been clearly defined
and understood, it may be regarded that a child will first acquire control of the
upper limbs and then, gain control of the lower ones. Therefore, this fact may
explain why kids at early ages are able to grab things with the hands with more
movement definition than carried-out tasks in which the lower limbs are
involved. Tamara Ardanaz in her article La Psicomotricidad en Educación
Infantil explains in detail the steps that the child goes through regarding
these two laws since his/her birth until the subject reaches the age of five.
For instance, at the 6-8 months of the child’s life, the author argues that the
child is able to stay sit without help (in this case, the movement control of
the torso is also developed) and acquires prehension and object manipulation
ability but he still crawls in order to move around.
This assumption is essential to consider when
working and living together with kids as from its understanding, we will be
aware of the child’s normal course of psychomotor development and besides, we
will be also able to establish and adapt our expectations to it. The awareness
of this fact is not only important for us as teachers or monitors, also parents
should be conscious of both laws and their process in order to choose, reflect
and decide which actions they may carry out and which ones will be useful and
helpful for the child’s better development.
Referring to my previous experiences related
with this issue, I have to say that two years ago I had the privilege of
working as a psychomotor activities monitor for children from three to five
years old. It really amazes me how, for carrying out his job, I did not receive
any instruction or guide to follow in order to develop proper sessions for the
kids’ best psychomotor development. This field is often misrelated with having
fun and playing games, but it should go further than this and entail more
involvement for those in charge to manage this kind of activities and also
those enterprises that offer this services. Now that I have been able to go in
deep in this issue and discover such aspects of the psychomotor development, I
have to admit that even though I tried my best while carrying out my job, now I
feel more confident in my experience and knowledge regarding this topic and I
think I would be able to perform my job better than I did previously. Even
though I tried my best when thinking and developing the sessions and seeking
for the ones for the kids’ enjoyment and proper development, now I would change
several activities or sessions that I thought they were appropriate in order to
improve my previous performance.
Acquisition of psychomotor skills
Once the developmental line of the psychomotor
dimension has been defined, the acquisition of psychomotor skills should be
stated, as it is another essential factor to be aware of when working with
kids. As it has been mentioned in previous posts regarding the psychological
and the emotional development, the
psychomotor development is a continuous process that starts with the birth of
the individual and does not have a defined ending. There are several stages
that all human beings go through depending on his/her maturity, but it is the
context where each of them is immersed what establishes the differences and
gaps among individuals (do not forget about people with disabilities and
difficulties in their learning process which will also have delays in this
issue if they are compared to people who does not have them). Therefore, it
could be stated that those contexts with more variety of stimulus and possibilities
to experiment with one’s own body will be the ones in which children will be
able to develop psychomotor skills faster.
The picture accompanying the text contains most
of the elements that a person has in mind when speaking about psychomotor
development. The main reason why most of the material that appears in the
picture comes to our mind when thinking about a psychomotor session or
classroom, is due to the need of providing a huge variety of stimulus for kids
to learn and acquire psychomotor abilities. Such objects offer the students
different and diverse opportunities to learn which, in other words, means that
having such assortment of objects allows the teacher to cover all the needs
that a child may have when developing his/her psychomotor skills. By assuming
that kids carry out their psychomotor development through the interaction with
the elements and objects of the context, it could be concluded that there are
similarities among the psychomotor and cognitive development as, regarding the
latter Piaget stated that children also acquire knowledge by interacting with
the existent elements of the environment where they are placed. This issue will
be explained more in detail in following posts.
But regardless the different stimulus that a
context may provide to the children which are immersed in, there are existent
differences among these kids that can be clearly seen when working with them
daily. The main reason why this happens may be found in ontogenetic aspects as,
in this case, the variety in the genetic pool of each of the individuals
coexisting in the same context is what will determine the differences in their
own psychomotor development. Therefore, the teacher’s acknowledgement and
realization of the individual characteristics of each subject is a key factor
that will determine the children’s proper development. If the teacher is able
to identify the needs and demands of every child, he/she will be successful
when teaching these kids to control their own body, movement and corporal
activity and, besides, to interact with efficiency within their social context.
Nevertheless, it is needed to highlight the need of working transversally and
exploring all different possibilities regarding one activity since the variety
and amount of capacities and dimensions developed in one single activity will
determine its usefulness and the possible enrichment that may suppose to the
student.
Searching on the internet for information
related with psychomotor sessions for kids of primary education, I ended up
finding a video that really caught my attention. In the following video can be
seen a group of elder people being instructed in psychomotor development. I
found this issue of interest as, when we think about psychomotor development,
we usually forget about the elders that are seeing their abilities and skills
reduced as time passes. This kind of exercises are focused on the maintenance
of abilities such as equilibrium, lateral dominance or muscle tone, but it is
also aimed to palliate possible diseases related with bone loss or lack of
muscle tone (Psicomotricidad y ejericicio físico para mayores).
Moreover, these sessions can also be seen as a meeting in which these people
does not only work on their physical maintenance but also have the opportunity
to create relationships and establish communication with people and thus,
foster their emotional dimension too. It is important to consider that through
the attendance to this kind of sessions, where not only exercises but games are
implemented, elders will also be working on some cognitive aspects such as the
memory and attention. For people with neurodegenerative disorders (Valencia,
2008), this set of activities will be of use in order to maintain their
physical abilities and also those related with the cognitive dimension
previously mentioned.
Taller psicomotriu - Acompanyament a la gent gran:
Analyzing a drawing of an eleven-year-old child
Children start
drawing at early ages, as it is a method that they use in order to communicate
with other people near them. Through drawings, the subject is able to express
his feelings and perception of the reality that surrounds him and, while
attempting to reproduce the elements and features of the context that he wants
to express to others, cognitive skills such as attention, perception or memory
are also being developed.
Moreover, drawing
does not only entail the expression of the child but also involves the
emotional dimension, as the subject tries to be valued thanks to their artistic
production. The emotions and feelings of adults related to the drawing of a child
will influence in his self-esteem as he/she will be able to perceive if s/he is
understood and accepted in a group of people. Thus, when observing and
analyzing drawings made by kids, it is important to acknowledge that there are
no mistakes or errors in their production but what the drawing is trying to
reflect is the reality and emotions that the subject is experiencing in a
determined moment.
In order to address
this issue, I will analyze a drawing of an eleven-year-old child that was asked
to draw “his house” with no more premises given; he was free to draw whatever
he wanted but respecting the topic raised. Through this analysis, we will be
able to determine in which stage related to the childhood drawing he could be
classified in. Below these lines, a grid with all stages regarding the childhood
drawings development is displayed in order for everybody to try to guess which
is the most appropriate stage for Èric’s drawing and its features.
In the drawing we can
observe how Èric has drawn the inside of his house. The corridor is the main
element of the picture, which gives profundity to the image and, around it
other elements of the house are drawn. Other elements that can be seen are the
door of his room (which has his name written in it), the entrance of the
kitchen and even both microwave and the fridge appear within the room (placed
at the left side of the drawing). Finally, at the end of the corridor can be
seen a door that leads to another room (living room) where a cage for budgies
has also been drawn.
Thus, regarding his interpretation of
reality, it could be concluded that while he was drawing, he carried out an
objective analysis of the elements that surround him in order to reproduce in
detail and give the receptors a clear idea of what he believed that his home
was.
Through taking a look
at the picture, we can clearly see that Èric is not only drawing on one plane,
but he is also considering the proportion and volume of the elements he wants
to draw, being able to play with the perspective and profundity and finally
obtaining a sensation of a three-dimensional picture.
Finally, the drawing
Èric has done has no color because he preferred to leave it in black and white,
as he thought it would look nicer than if he colored it. Through this
statement, we are able to appreciate that even though he wanted to give the
drawing an objective look, he also considered his own preferences while its
development. Therefore, even though the drawing could be seen as an absolute
realistic representation of his environment, by choosing not to color it he is
also expressing his own point of view and way of interpreting reality. It is
also important to consider that by drawing a determined place of the house and
not the whole building, he is also giving a personal vision of what he
considers his home which, in this case, is the inside of the house what he
really feels like home.
With all evidences
gathered related to this drawing, we could consider it within the realist stage as he is able to carry out some of the
features related with this stage such as the realization and reproduction of
proportion, volume and perspective. Nevertheless, there are some aspects that
could be included in the communicative stage,
such as the aim of analyzing the environment objectively but also offering some
elements that represent his vision of reality.
Other aspects to take
into account regarding the graphic gesture development that could be also
analyzed in Èric’s drawing could be the maturation of the hand muscles or his
psychological development. It is obvious that Èric has both muscles of the hand
developed as he is able to carry out all movements that are related to drawing
(flexion – extension / abduction – adduction / rotatory movements). In terms of
psychological development, Èric has acquired the fine motor skills needed to
draw as so the cognitive development in terms of symbolization (he has written
his name on the door of his room with clear calligraphy). Finally, in terms of
the socio-affective development, he may be not showing specific emotions (or I
am not able to perceive them), but as it has been said before, he is offering
to the receptors of this drawing his own vision of home.
Regarding this topic,
we can conclude that drawing is a method that children have in order to
represent the reality they are living and defining the characteristics of such
by meanings of observation. Through the drawing, the child is able to express a
determined message or emotions that he wants to transmit to others for him to
be understood. When being teachers, we should take into account the importance
of each drawing and its elements since, by analyzing them, we will be able to
know them more in deep and be aware of the characteristics or needs of each of
them. We should foster the development of the drawing skills and, therefore,
children will have the opportunity to represent what they are thinking in a
different way than speaking.
Why do we need a well-defined body scheme?
The body scheme is the mental image
that the individual has of his own body, it is the idea that he has about the
different parts and segments that form it and also the different movements he
can carry out with them. This mental representation (Pérez, 2005) also allows
the subject to determine his own body’s position whether it is in a repose
state or in movement. In addition, Le Boulch states that the body scheme does
not only allow the subject to create an idea of his own body but also is
determined by its relation with the space and objects that surround him. The
creation of this image is a progressive experience that the individual builds
up since his birth and finds its end at the age of 11-12 and its determined by
neurological maturation processes. There are three main types of body image
depending on the different approaches to this issue:
Perceptual image: the representation of the body
that the individual has in terms of size, shape and weight.
Cognitive image: it regards the set of beliefs and
thoughts that the individual has about his body.
Emotional image: this image entails the level of satisfaction
that the individual has according to his figure, features and the set of
experiences that the body provides the individual. This image is the most
subjective of the three since it implies the self-judgment of one’s own
characteristics.
The body scheme is a key factor in
the development of a child as the body is the first thing that he is able to discover.
Before knowing the context where he is immersed or the features of the
environment around him, he is able to get to know his own characteristics. The
body and the actions that the child is able to carry out are the link with the
context and other people that can be found there. The image of the body or body
scheme may be of use for the individual as a self-regulative system that helps
him to have control of his own body and its relation with the space and time.
It is needed to highlight the importance of the creation of a proper body
scheme in order to have the most objective perception of our possibilities and
capabilities to identify which tasks we will be able to carry out autonomously
and which will require of some help or guidance to reach success.
The self-regulation function of the
body scheme entails the control of three main aspects: the body
consciousness and regulation; the time representation; and the spatiotemporal
structuring. First of all, the body consciousness and regulation allows the
individual to perceive his own body and, therefore he is able to control
several psychomotor features that develop at school age such as equilibrium,
lateral dominance and independence among corporal segments (which is considered
to be the control of a unique part of the body and independent to others). Such
aspect of the body scheme helps us to define the actions we want to carry out
in our context depending to our possibilities, being able to know what we are
capable of and what will be more difficult for us to do. Another aspect that the
consciousness of our body allows us to regulate is the control of the
physiological impulses such as going to the toilet. This aspect is a key factor
to work with kids the soonest, since it means for them an important move
towards autonomy. Closely related with the previous issue, time representation
allows the individual to have a control and awareness not only of the time (by
using different tools to measure it) but also of the time that the individual requires
to carry out an specific task or the biological time which entails the
sequencing of physiological needs such as eating, sleeping or going to the
toilet. The addition of the latter aspect and the consciousness of space help
the individual when determining his position in a determined place and moment,
being able to orienteer himself by perceiving stimulus coming from the
environment.
As it can be clearly seen, all these
aspects related with the development of the proper body scheme help the
individual in his attempt to become more autonomous and less dependent to
others. Knowing this, when being teachers we should enhance the proper
construction of the body scheme since students at primary school ages have not
developed completely the image of their own body yet. Students should be
provided of activities and experiences which promote this kind of learning for
them to be able to get to know their body and discover what they are capable to
do. Activities within this category could be to ask students to stay in
equilibrium in a determined position (thus, proprioception will be developed)
or do concrete movements with determined parts of the body (so they are able to
realize which movements can be done with each of the articulations). When I was
studying the CFGS of Sport and Physical activities, I worked in deep the scheme
of the body, its different planes and the movements of the articulations. Even
though I had my body scheme already formed, I found very useful this information
as it help me understand why each segment of the body does a determined
movement (depending on the shape of the articulation and the distal parts of
the bones which are connected, a determined segment will be able to do a kind
of movement or more than one). The following image shows the different planes
of the body scheme. In each of them, determined movements can be done:
Coronal plane: abduction (moving away from the
body) / adduction (towards the body)
Sagittal plane: flexion (vertical movements aimed
at the head) / extension (movements on the opposite direction of the head.
Transverse plane: pronation (internal rotation) /
supination (external rotation)
Even though this information may not
seem of use for students as they are complex concepts to understand, teachers
should adapt it for them to be aware of the prefixed possibilities that their
body provides them. This information may also help to prevent lesions as, if
students are aware of the movements they can do, they will understand how a
lesion regarding this issue can be created and then avoid it.
It is also important to consider that the
construction of the body scheme can be influenced by several factors such as
social interrelations with others or a lack of objectivity towards the own body.
The negative influence of these aspects may lead to lacks in the construction
of the body scheme and, therefore, have difficulties when identifying one’s own
characteristics or even have a low-self-esteem. For this reason, teachers
should be aware of such factors in order to foster the positive and avoid the
negative and thus, help each student achieve the construction of a well-defined
body scheme.
REFERENCES
Ardanaz, T. (2009). La
psicomotricidad en educación infantil. Innovación y experiencias educativas,
(16). Retrieved from:
Jiménez, J. (2006). La psicomotricidad de tu hijo/a: cómo
desarrollarla y mejorarla. Cáceres: La Tierra hoy. Retrieved from:
Ministerio de sanidad y política
social. Psicomotricidad y ejercicio físico para mayores. Retrieved from: http://web.usal.es/~amapola/docs/i.pdf
Valencia, C., López-Alzate, E.,
Tirado, V., Zea-Herrera, M. D., Lopera, F., Rupprecht, R. and Oswald, W. D.
(2008). Efectos cognitivos de un entrenamiento combinado de memoria y
psicomotricidad en adultos mayores. Revista de neurología, 46(8),
465-471. Retrieved from:
Pérez, A. J. (2005). Esquema
corporal y lateralidad. Retrieved
from:
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