Animal models offer the opportunity to acquire a new perspective on motor development

During much of this century, our views of motor development were greatly influenced by speculations as to the role of reflexes in the control of movement. However, recent work casts a new view regarding the organization and control of movement. In this article, a review of recent studies of motor development in neonatal kittens and chick embryos is provided. The results of these studies suggest that very early in development there is considerable potential for coordinated movement. The potential for coordinated movement may also exist in early human development. Whether coordinated movement is observed appears to be dependent on a number of variables. For example, mechanical factors emerging during movement may impose demands that restrict the expression of coordinated movement. One possible implication for the practice of physical therapy is that researchers and clinicians will need to precisely characterize and quantify movement variables to advance our knowledge of the processes driving development and to establish effective means for addressing the movement problems of a pediatric population.