Cross-Cultural Variation in Infant Motor Development

Abstract

Emphasis on early identification and remediation of abnormal movement patterns has encouraged pediatric therapists to look beyond pathology to normal development as a template for describing abnormal movement. The motor developmental sequence, an ordinal sequence which forms the basis for most developmental schedules, is frequently the criterion used for comparison of normal and abnormal development. These developmental schedules, however, have been standardized on western European and North American infants. Evidence from anthropological investigations suggests that considerable cross-cultural variation in motor development exists. The intent of this paper is to present specific culturally related examples of motor developmental variation and discuss the possible relationship of infant care practices, environmental stresses and selective factors on early motor behavior. In some cases, variation from North American infants care practices is striking, as is the motor precocity described in some African infants. Knowledge of culturally based developmental variation can be useful fro pediatric therapists who work in a multi-cultural environment and who wish to broaden their repertoire of intervention techniques.