Nursery World - Analysis: Motor skills

Developmental testing should be reintroduced for children before and after school entry to improve learning skills, says Sally Goddard Blythe.

Babies with poor motor skills at nine months are also likely to be behind in their cognitive development at this age and less well behaved at age five, the Millenium Cohort Study - involving 15,000 children - has found.(1)

These findings mirror the results of an earlier study, which found a link between immature balance and co-ordination skills at age five and poor reading and writing in primary school.(2)

Physical development is the foundation for learning. Without balance and co-ordination, we could not sit nor stand, have free use of our hands to carry out fine motor tasks, or control the eye movements needed for reading, writing, copying and maths.

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