Case Study Of Leo's Motor Development

1. Analysis Leo is 2 years and three months. Through observing Leo I clearly was able to depict the concepts he portrayed and I noticed he was right on track for his age group. There were several opportunities to examine Leo’s motor development. According to Child Development From Infancy to Adolescence, there are two basic forms of motor skills. There is gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are “skills that involve the large muscles groups of the body–for example, the legs and arms” (Levine and Munsch, 2016, p. 158). Leo used his gross motor skills when he was jumping on his bed. He had good control of his muscles using balance. When he was jumping he bent his legs which showed his muscles were strong. I also noticed …show more content…
Fine motor skills are defined as “skills that involve small movements, mostly of the hands and fingers, but also of the lips and tongue” (Levine and Munsch, 2016, p. 158). I watched how Leo achieved picking up his food. Leo used the pincer grasp when eating his food. Because he was eating peas he used his pointer finger and thumb to pick the pea up. He did this one at a time for each pea. While he mostly used his fingers to eat he also then transferred to using a spoon. He held his spoon using his entire hand and this in fact is called the palmar grasp. Levine and Munsch defined fine motor skills as also use of “lips and tongue”. This would fall under another aspect of fine motor skills when Leo talked to the teacher answering her questions. Leo was able to formulate simple words like “yes please” and “no”. Leo’s fine motor skills reflect the average fine motor skills achieved by children his …show more content…
As previously stated he did seem advanced for his age. I was limited on observing Leo’s gross motor skills because I observed Leo while he was in a classroom. I therefore would like to see Leo run around on the playground. I would like to see how he uses the playground equipment and if he is able to use most of it on his own without help from a teacher. In order to prove if Leo is more advanced I would also need to observe the other children around him and if they are able to perform similar gross motor skills. It is very important for children to go outside and run around. Not only is physical activity healthy and good for the body but it also helps develop gross motor skills. “The American Association recommends that preschoolers get at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity” (Levine and Munsch, 2016, p. 269). Overall, I would like to see more gross motor skills on the playground because physical activity is very important especially when those initial gross motor skills are