Normal psychomotor development

Abstract

"Psychomotor" development refers to changes in a child's cognitive, emotional, motor, and social capacities from the beginning of life throughout fetal and neonatal periods, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. It occurs in a variety of domains and a wide range of theories makes understanding children's development a challenging undertaking. Different models have tried to interpret the origins of human behavior, the pattern of developmental changes over time, and the individual and contextual factors that could direct child development. No single theory has been able to account for all aspects of child development, but each of them may contribute an important piece to the child development puzzle. Although theories sometimes disagree, much of their information is complementary rather than contradictory. The knowledge of child typical development and related theories and models is greatly useful for clinical practice, leading to recognition of developmental disorders and the ways in which they can be approached and treated. In this chapter, traditional and more modern concepts around functional development of psychomotor abilities are reported, firstly more in general and then specifically in the motor domain.