Handbook of Motor Skills: Development, Impairment & Therapy

A motor skill is a learned series of movements that combine to produce a smooth, efficient action. Gross motor skills include lifting ones head, rolling over, sitting up, balancing, crawling, and walking. Gross motor development usually follows a pattern. Generally large muscles develop before smaller ones, thus, gross motor development is the foundation for developing skills in other areas. Development also generally moves from top to bottom. For example, the first thing a baby usually learns to control is its eyes. Fine motor skills include the ability to manipulate small objects, transfer objects from hand to hand, and various hand-eye co-ordination tasks. Fine motor skills may involve the use of very precise motor movement in order to achieve an especially delicate task. This book gathers the latest research from around the globe in this field.