Prewalking locomotor movements and their use in predicting standing and walking

Abstract

The majority (82%) of normal infants crawl on hands and knees as the predominant means of moving from place to place before they get themselves to standing. Others shuffle in a sitting position (9%), creep on the abdomen (1%) or roll (1%), and tend to walk much later than the crawlers. The earliest walkers have no observable prewalking locomotion--they just stand up and walk (7%). In many instances, the age at which one locomotor milestone is attained correlates well with the age at which subsequent milestones appear, thus permitting prediction of the age of standing and walking. Such predictions are useful in offering parents and therapists a time scale over which future skills can be expected to develop in both normal and handicapped children.