The Process of Becoming: Development Through A Humanistic Lens

The onset of walking is a developmental transition that sets in motion a cascade of change across a range of domains, including social interactions and language learning. However, research on the unfolding of such change in the infant across this transition is limited. This investigation utilized a longitudinal design to examine the effect of walking acquisition on infant social development and parent perceptions of the infant to explore how changes in these factors relate with infant language development. Parents reported on infant social behaviors and their perception of the infant, as well as motor and language development, in 2-week intervals from 10.5 to 13 months of age. Mixed linear models revealed infant initiation of joint engagement (e.g., pointing, bringing objects to the parent) and following of the parent's joint engagement cues (e.g., point following, gaze following) increased as a function of infant walking experience, particularly between 2-and 4-weeks after the onset of walking, independent of age. Additionally, the parent's perception of the infant as an individual increased between 2-and 4-weeks after the infant began to walk. Finally, the unique relations of infant walking experience, following of social cues, and the parents' perception of the infant as an individual with infant language development were examined. Infant following of joint engagement behaviors and parent perception of the infant as an individual were related to receptive, but not productive, vocabulary size. Additionally, infant walking experience remained a significant predictor of infant receptive and productive language. These findings provide insight on important factors that change as the infant begins to walk. Future research utilizing more direct assessment of these factors is described, as well as general patterning of developmental change across the transition from crawling to walking.

We examined mothers' verbal responses to their crawling or walking infants' object sharing (i.e. bids). Fifty mothers and their 13-month-olds were observed for 1 hour at home. Infants bid from a stationary position or they bid after carrying the object to their mothers. Mothers responded with affirmations (e.g. 'thank you'), descriptions ('red box'), or action directives ('open it'). Infants' locomotor status and the form of their bids predicted how mothers responded. Mothers of walkers responded with action directives more often than mothers of crawlers. Notably, differences in the responses of mothers of walkers versus those of crawlers were explained by differences in bid form between the two groups of infants. Walkers were more likely to engage in moving bids than crawlers, who typically shared objects from stationary positions. When crawlers displayed moving bids, their mothers offered action directives just as often as did mothers of walkers. Findings illustrate developmental cascades, wherein infants' locomotor status affects how infants share objects with mothers, which in turn shapes mothers' verbal responses.

Developmental Science, 2013

We examined mothers' verbal responses to their crawling or walking infants' object sharing (i.e., bids). Fifty mothers and their 13-month-olds were observed for 1 hour at home. Infants bid from a stationary position or they bid after carrying the object to their mothers. Mothers responded with affirmations (e.g., "thank you"), descriptions ("red box"), or action directives ("open it"). Infants' locomotor status and the form of their bids predicted how mothers responded. Mothers of walkers responded with action directives more often than mothers of crawlers. Notably, differences in the responses of mothers of walkers versus those of crawlers were explained by differences in bid form between the two groups of infants. Walkers were more likely to engage in moving bids than crawlers, who typically shared objects from stationary positions. When crawlers displayed moving bids, their mothers offered action directives just as often as did mothers of walkers. Findings illustrate developmental cascades, wherein infants' locomotor status affects how infants share objects with mothers, which in turn shapes mothers' verbal responses. Emerging skills in one domain can have far-reaching, non-obvious consequences for development and experience in other domains. This idea is reflected in the theoretical construct of developmental cascades (Adolph & Robinson, in press; Gottlieb, 1991; Masten & Cicchetti, 2010; Thelen & Smith, 1998). For example, the acquisition of sitting leads to more sophisticated visual-manual object exploration, which in turn, facilitates 3-D form perception (Soska, Adolph, & Johnson, 2010). Here, we offer an additional illustration of a developmental cascade, in this case from motor skill acquisition to changes in linguistic input. We show how the transition from crawling to walking affects how infants share objects with their mothers, and how the form of infants' social bids, in turn, affects the verbal responses they receive.

Riwayat: Educational Journal of History and Humanities

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in the cognitive development of children who crawled and did not crawl. This research was conducted in July-December 2022. This research method uses qualitative research. Data was collected in this study using observation and documentation. The conclusion of this study is that children who crawl have cognitive development faster than children who do not crawl, because in processing information and doing activities, children who crawl are faster in responding to the information conveyed because the nervous system in their brain is more connected, thereby developing muscle turned out to greatly affect the development of the child's brain.

Child Development, 2013

How does visual experience change over development? To investigate changes in visual input over the developmental transition from crawling to walking, thirty 13‐month‐olds crawled or walked down a straight path wearing a head‐mounted eye tracker that recorded gaze direction and head‐centered field of view. Thirteen additional infants wore a motion tracker that recorded head orientation. Compared to walkers, crawlers' field of view contained less walls and more floor. Walkers directed gaze straight ahead at caregivers, whereas crawlers looked down at the floor. Crawlers obtained visual information about targets at higher elevations—caregivers and toys—by craning their heads upward and sitting up to bring the room into view. Findings indicate that visual experiences are intimately tied to infants' posture.

Developmental Science, 2022

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Highlights Newborns' crawling is enhanced when they hear their native language Newborn crawling appears to be modulated by supra spinal mechanisms The findings add one more ability to newborns' rich repertoire of actions The findings shed new light on the early origins of locomotion and its control Newborn crawling and language

Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2012

Developmental Science, 2020

A growing literature shows that perception and action are already tightly coupled in the newborn. The current study aimed to examine the nature of the coupling between olfactory stimuli from the mother and the newborn's crawling and rooting (exploratory movements of the head). To examine the coupling, the crawling and rooting behavior of 28 2-day-old newborns were studied while they were supported prone on a mobility device shaped like a mini skateboard, the Crawliskate, their head positioned directly on top of a pad infused with either their mother's breast odor (Maternal) or the odor of water (Control). Video and 3D kinematic analyses of the number and types of limb movements and quantification of displacement across the surface revealed that newborns are significantly more efficient crawlers when they smell the maternal odor, moving greater distances although performing fewer locomotor movements. In addition, the newborns made significantly more head rooting movements in the presence of the maternal odor. These findings suggest that the circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion and exploratory movements of the head is already adaptable to olfactory information via higher brain processing. Moreover, the coupling between olfaction and the two action systems, locomotion and rooting, is already differentiated. As crawling enables the newborn to move toward the mother's breast immediately after birth and facilitates mother-infant interaction, the results of this study highlight the potential value of using maternal odors to stimulate mobility in infants at risk of motor delay and/or deprived of this odor when born prematurely.

Infant Behavior and Development, 2020

Motor developmental milestones in infancy, such as the transition to self-locomotion, have cascading implications for infants' social and cognitive development. The current studies aimed to add to this literature by exploring whether and how crawling experience impacts a key socialcognitive milestone achieved in infancy: the development of intentional action understanding. Study 1 used a cross-sectional, age-held-constant design to examine whether locomotor (n = 36) and prelocomotor (n = 36) infants differ in their ability to process a failed intentional reaching action. Study 2 (n = 124) further probed this question by assessing how variability in locomotor infants' experience maps onto variability in their failed intentional action understanding. Both studies also assessed infants' tendency to engage in triadic interactions to shed light on whether self-locomotion impacts intentional action understanding directly or indirectly via changes in infants' interactions with social partners. Altogether, results showed no evidence for the role of self-locomotion in the development of intentional action understanding. Locomotor and prelocomotor infants did not differ in their failed action understanding or levels of triadic engagement (Study 1) and individual differences in days of crawling experience, propensity to crawl during play, and maximum crawling speed failed to predict infants' intentional action understanding or triadic engagement (Study 2). Explanations for these null findings and alternative influences on the development of intentional action understanding are considered.

Child Development, 1998

The effects of infants' age, body dimensions, and experience on the development of crawling was examined by observing 28 infants longitudinally, from children's first attempts at crawling until they began walking. Although most infants displayed multiple crawling postures en route to walking, development did not adhere to a strict progression of obligatory, discrete stages. In particular, 15 infants crawled on their bellies prior to crawling on hands and knees, but the other 13 infants skipped the belly-crawling period and proceeded directly to crawling on hands and knees. Duration of experience with earlier forms of crawling predicted the speed and efficiency of later, quite different forms of crawling. Most important, infants who had formerly belly crawled were more proficient crawling on hands and knees than infants who had skipped the belly-crawling period. Transfer could not be explained by differences in infants' age or body dimensions alone. Rather, experience using earlier crawling patterns may have exerted beneficial effects on hands-and-knees crawling by shoring up underlying constituents common to all forms of crawling postures.