From the Beginning: A Developmental Perspective on Movement and Mobility

A developmental perspective is essential to our understanding of movement and mobility. A person's motor behavior position at any point in his life reflects his past movement experiences and presages his future ones. This paper presents a brief overview of the major periods of motor skill development using a metaphor of a mountain. Evidence is presented in support of the importance of early perceptual-motor experience for later skill attainment. The paper concludes with a commentary on future research issues that would inform our understanding of a developmental perspective on movement and mobility and stresses the importance of studying this issue from the beginning.