MOTOR SKILL 1

In the field of educational psychology, there are many notable developmental stages

that the child go through, which contribute in the cognitive changes. Motor skill, In fact, is

the basic step that every infant should experience in his life. As an influential stage, motor

skill in few words is the coordination between the muscles of the body in order to achieve the

goal of movement or to do a certain task. In order to perform this skill, the brain, the nervous

system, and the muscles are needed. So, what are the types of motor skill? its principles of

development? and its stages?

Motor skills are categorized into two types which are gross and fine. From one hand,

gross motor skills require the use of large muscle groups found in legs, arms, and torso to

perform many tasks like crawling, walking, and jumping. Much of the development of these

skills occurs during early childhood. Boys are most exposed to these skills and succeed in

performing them correctly like playing football. Gross motor skills are used on a daily basis

without thinking too much to do them. The most significant thing is that performance level

of gross motor skill cannot be changed after periods of non-use. On the other hand, fine

motor skills require the use of smaller muscle groups to perform smaller movements. These

muscles include those found in wrists, hands, fingers, feet, and toes. For example, playing

the piano, puzzle games. Girls perform better in this type especially in dancing. Some fine

motor skills may be susceptible to loss of over a period non-use. In fact, they need to be

continuously used in order not to lose the learnt skill.

Motor skills develop in different parts of a the body along three principles which are

cephalocaudal, proximodistal, and from gross to specific. First of all, cephalocaudal is the

principle that development occurs from up to down. For example, infants first learn to lift

their heads on their own, followed by moving their arms, and then their legs. Secondly,

proximodistal which is the principle that movement of limbs that are closer to the body

develop before the parts that are further away. For example, a baby learns to control his
MOTOR SKILL 2

upper arm before his hands and fingers. Lastly, from gross to specific which is a pattern in

which larger muscle movements develop before finer movements. For example, a child

develops the ability to catch large objects with his hand, then objects that are smaller between

his thumb and fingers.

As far as the aforementioned information is concerned, the stages of motor learning are

important to know which hare the cognitive phase, the associative phase, and the autonomous

phase. Cognitive phase is when a learner is exposed to a new task, the primary thought starts

with a question " What needs to be done? ". Here, the learner can determine the appropriate

strategies to perform the desired goal. For example, if a boy wants to learn playing football,

he will ask himself what are the steps that are needed to be done in order to learn this new

skill. Moving to the associative phase which means that the learner has determined the most

effective way to do the task and starts to make adjustments in performance. The skills in this

phase are fluent, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing. This phase can last for a long time as a

training process. The last stage, autonomous phase it may take several months or years to be

reached. The phase is called autonomous because the performer can now automatically

complete the task without paying much attention in performing it. For example, including the

habit of walking and talking at the same time is developed through time and experience as

well.

Summing up the whole ideas, motor skill is an important stage in the child’s process of

development. Performing its types (gross and fine) is needed to assure the capability of the

muscles to perform well. Alongside with the principles (cephalocaudal, proximodistal, gross

to specific) where motor skill develops in different parts of a the body, simply from simple

activities to complex ones. Finishing with the stages of motor learning (cognitive phase,

associative phase, autonomous phase) which means that the human being go through many

stages in order to achieve the skill and doing it autonomously and correctly.