Motor Development videos

A couple years ago I found some great online videos on Motor Development and I've been using them in classes since that time. Dr. Marcio Oliveira, the Assistant Dean for Educational Innovation at University of Maryland (and a great investigator in the field) created a series of short videos that portray different topics in motor development, including two interviews with Dr. Jane Clark that are just fantastic! She is also from University of Maryland. Dr. Oliveira is an advocate for innovation in higher ed teaching and he has been doing great things - and I'm still hoping for many more!

Here is a list of the topics (click on it for the link):

Reflexes and spontaneous movements
Prenatal development: The course of early development
Reflexes assessments
Perceptual development: Kinesthetic
Perceptual development: Visual & auditory
Epigenetics in MD
Nature x nurture in MD
Fundamentals of MD
The mountain of MD: A metaphor
The mountain of MD: Periods
Constraints in motor development
Career paths in motor development

A big moment made up of many small ones

"Behind every big moment, there are a lot of small ones."

I love watching the Ameritrade ads when I'm watching the winter games on TV - I think that the message, even though directed to investing ("helping you reach your long term goals, one small step at a time"), has everything to do with motor development. The ads show some American athletes ( I think there are more than these 3) in different sports and it always starts when the athlete is in the podium, retrospecting to training, other competitions when they were younger, and even playing as kids with something related to the sport they are now a champion on. It really shows how everything starts at the fundamental aspects of motor development, which is really cute and inspiring at the same time. The idea is pretty brilliant and for me, and reflects pretty well the importance of the process and the fact that to achieve a major objective in life first you need to achieve a series of small ones.

In my belief, understanding this concept completely is fundamental when we work with children. In motor development, we usually have (final) goals that are way more advanced than a child can conceive. Specialists (clinician, teacher, therapist) usually break down a goal into smaller steps, but it is important to reinforce that these steps are also goals to be achieved. Children are goal-oriented individuals, and transforming each step of the process in goals can make a huge difference in the process of motor development and learning.