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Typical and atypical development of reaching and postural control in infancy
Author(s) -
HaddersAlgra Mijna
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/dmcn.12298
Subject(s) - sitting , repertoire , psychology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , developmental psychology , motor skill , typically developing , variation (astronomy) , medicine , physics , pathology , autism , astrophysics , acoustics
Successful reaching requires postural control, either by active regulation or by postural support. The present paper reviews literature on typical and atypical development of reaching and postural control during infancy. Typically, reaching movements end in grasping around 4 months of age. Initially, reaches are characterized by large variation, including many trajectory corrections. During the first year, the movements get increasingly straight and smooth. Reaching in low‐risk preterm infants is initially characterized by advanced development, but minor impairments may emerge in the second half of infancy. In high‐risk preterm infants, development of reaching is characterized by delay and non‐optimal reaching performance. Typical development of postural adjustments is characterized by variation and an increasing ability to adapt the variable repertoire to the specifics of the situation. The latter is facilitated by an increasing role of anticipatory mechanisms in the second half of infancy. Atypically developing infants may have a reduced repertoire and usually have difficulties in adapting postural adjustments. In infancy, most reaching movements are performed during sitting. The postural challenge of sitting may interfere in particular with the development of reaching in atypically developing infants. The practical implications of this suggestion are discussed.