Motor learning is when a task is practiced to allow for mastery. This happens with all new skills. Sometimes it happens so quickly you don’t even realize it was happening and sometimes it can take longer, require more practice, and breaking down into components to support the areas that are making it challenging.
Let’s look at a task that I share in the video above. This is for getting into standing from half kneeling without using hands on the floor.
Let’s do a task breakdown.
- Hands and knees
- Tall kneeling
- Weight shift to one side
- Bring the unweighted leg forward
- Balance in half kneeling
- Shift weight forward onto lead leg
- Push up with lead leg while assisting with back leg
- Step back leg forward next to the lead leg
This may seem like a lot of steps but honestly it could be broken down even more.
I like to start with having the child get into standing and see what they do. Do they go from bear stand, do they go into squat, do they only pull to stand from half kneel? What do they do if you change things? If there isn’t anything to pull to stand on can they get up?
I like to work on balance for the stability on the stance leg. This can support the weight shifting to bring the leg forward as well as the stability once in half kneel. Get creative for having balance with weight shifted to more than one side. Think outside the box!
Once there, can they shift their weight forward and generate force? If the answer is no to either of these let’s work on weight shift forward in half kneeling. Let’s work on generating force from hips and knees that are bent to 90/90.
Now let’s try to push up. Well it’s still hard. Let’s raise the ground on the stance leg so that the lead leg doesn’t have to work quite so hard and the back leg can assist easier. If that works, lower the ground under the stance leg until you get to a flat surface. This is grading the task to allow for success so that the body can put the components together.
Now the next time you do this, you may have to go through some of the same steps again but you should be able to do them faster. In the ideal world they start using this skill outside of the therapy session so then it just becomes part of their repetoire.
It’s a complex topic and I hope this helped to explain it. We have a product for higher level coordination that also looks at how to break down tasks by skill and explain the evidence and science behind it.
Let me know your questions so I can further explain!
