Walk alone easily
Walk using furniture for support
Pull self to stand
Stand with support
it without support
Support some weight with legs
Roll over
Prone, chest up, use arms for support
Prone, lift he
16
Age (months)
FIGURE 414
MILESTONES IN GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT. The horizontal red bars indicate the range in which most infants reach various milestones in gross
motor development.
later ones, may vary by as much as two to four months, and experiences can modify the onset
of these accomplishments (Adolph & Berger, 2013). For example, since 1992, when pediatri
cians began recommending that parents place their babies on their backs when they sleep
infants do not follow the standard sequence of motor accomplishments. For example, many
American infants never crawl on their belly or on their hands and knees. They may discover
an idiosyncratic form of locomotion before walking, such as rolling, or
they might never
locomote until they get upright (Adolph & Robinson, 2013). In the African Mali tribe, most
infants do not crawl (Bril, 1999). And in Jamaica, approximately one-fourth of babies skip
crawling (Hopkins, 1991)
According to Karen Adolph and Sarah Berger (2005), "the old-fashioned view that
growth and motor development reflect merely the age-related output of maturation is, at best,
incomplete. Rather, infants acquire new skills with the help of their caregivers in a real-world
environment of objects, surfaces, and planes."
Development in the Second Year The motor accomplishments of the first year
bring increasing independence, allowing infants to explore their environment more extensively
and to initiate interaction with others more readily. In the second year of life, toddlers become
more motorically skilled and mobile. Motor activity during the second year is vital to the
A baby is an angel whose
child's competent development, and few restrictions, except for safety, should be placed on
their adventures
wings decrease as his legs
By 13 to 18 months, toddlers can pull a toy attached to a string and use their hands and
increase
legs to climb up a number of steps. By 18 to 24 months, toddlers can walk quickly or run
stiffly for a short distance, balance on their feet in a squatting position while playing with
FRENCH PROVERB
CHAPTER 4 Physical Development in Infancy
120