Do you think there is any connection between a baby learning to crawl and brain...

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

development? Particularly with reading? Is this a researched and documented fact, a good probability based on your experience, or an old wive's tale?

[Ria]

I doubt it. Case in point: my 20-yr old twins. Ds began crawling by 6 months. He was everywhere! Dd, on the other hand, was very content to sit and watch her brother. She didn't begin to scoot until 10 months, and finally crawled at 11 months.

 

Both were reading on a solid 2nd grade level by age 3 1/2. Both are very smart, but dd is the one who got 750 on the reading/verbal part of the SAT, lol (her twin only got 710). DD works a lot harder than her twin academically; he's lazy. :glare:

 

Ria

[LizzyBee]

I think for kids who have learning disabilities and didn't crawl, there might be a correlation related to a motor planning weakness. However, I don't think not crawling in and of itself is a problem, because I've known many people who didn't crawl but don't have LDs.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Well, my oldest son didn't crawl until he was 12 months old (did a little army scoot at about 10 mo), but was reading on a fourth grade level by the end on K5.

[pixeldog]

I've heard that children who crawl well before walking do better than children who don't crawl as much and start walking right away. I've also heard of distinctions with kids who crawl with their feet instead of their knees. I've never seen documentation, have just heard about it from various people.

[Ellie]

I can't quote it, but yes, there does seem to be some evidence that this is so. I know that I've read about children who had severe developmental delays and whose therapy included crawling; in fact, they were not even able to crawl "properly" (left arm, right leg; left arm, right leg) and needed help to do so.

[Carrie12345]

I haven't personally looked at any studies. Nobody's studying *my* kids, so the information isn't particularly useful to me.:tongue_smilie:

 

My oldest was an early crawler and walker. He taught himself to read at 3. My girls were average crawlers. Neither was reading at 3, but they both decode well above grade level, and the older one's comprehension is getting up there.

 

My baby was a late crawler and walker. He's not even 2 yet, but he loves to look at books and be read to, just like his siblings. I think *that plays a much bigger part than crawling age for most children.

[dirty ethel rackham]

This theory has nothing to do with the age of crawling, but whether the child ever learned to crawl and whether the child used it for locomotion. It has to do with cross-patterning movement and the effect on neurodevelopment. Some kids with processing and sequencing issues are helped by cross-patterning movement exercises. My son, who had lots of sensory and auditory processing issues and propioception problems did not have good cross-patterning movement (he rarely used his arms while walking, and when he did, they did not swing normally - i.e. left arm - right foot.) After we worked on cross-patterning exercises, his processing as well as overall coordination improved.

[FO4UR]

There is a correlation between crawling and building fm skills. Crawling is good excersice for hands and upper body - all needed for skills like handwriting.

 

My ds6 didn't crawl - well, he crawled for literally a day before he was cruising and walking. He definitely had fm delays too.

 

Writing and reading are often linked. Thus kids who need the physical act of writing in order to get reading can be slowed down by the lack of fm skill that crawling builds. (not all kids can learn to read without the physical stimulus of writing -my ds seems to be one of them;))

 

So - my non-scientific theory is that for some kids crawling is vital to reading. There are a lot of variables that go into it, so it's not an either/or kind of thing. My ds was sent to an OT at 4yo for fm delay at which point we began working at home on basically building crawling muscles (monkey bars and wheelbarrow races - and lots of them). I think he would have been reading and writing much earlier had he crawled, but it's not going to make a huge difference in the end.

 

Then there are kids who can't write a bit, but read just fine. There is no pat answer.

[Once]

I will give you my experience with my family members. My daughter who may be a slower learner in some subjects, but is a very bright reader, crawled at 8-9 months. She crawled very little and was consistantly walking at about 11 months. She consistantly cruised around the coffee table at about 6 months. My daughter scores 3-4 grades above in reading assessments and she has had perfect scores in the CAT several times in reading comprehension giving her about a 97th percentile. She has sensory issues that may cause her to learn slower than other kids but she reads *well*. However, she did not read early.

My son crawled more, walked at about 13 months, is about normal for reading skill. No learning issues to complicate it.

 

My opinion is that for *some* kids crawling theraputically is helpful but for the majority of kids it is just fun to do. It is possible that the fun in and of itself is theraputic but not the way it was intended.

[MBM]

I hope not! :)

 

My son rolled around like a sausage for months. He crawled for a month or so after discovering that was a better way to grab the cat's tail, and then he was up and tottering about. Ah, I miss those days when he was little.

 

He's in sixth grade now and reads and comprehends well. Maybe all the rolling helped. ;)

 

ETA: Here is an article mentioning that gesturing seems to help with vocabulary.

 

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5916/951

Edited March 18, 2009 by MBM
added more info

[Greta]

I've heard about this too, but I've never read anything about it from a reputable source. My dd only crawled for three weeks before she started walking. I was very surprised! She has struggled with reading, and when I took her to be evaluated (thinking she might be dyslexic) I learned she has ADHD. But I have no idea if those two things are truly correlated or not.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

Thank you so much for the replies! I knew this was the place to come. :) It seems as if (not) crawling might be an issue if there are other issues in play as well. A friend of mine was asking for advice. All I know is that my oldest son crawled very little, but is a voracious reader. I'll pass on the helpful advice. Thanks!

[LizzyBee]

Posting again to add to my earlier thoughts.

 

My youngest dd has several processing disorders and is severely dyslexic. She also has fine motor and motor planning weaknesses. She did crawl normally in a cross pattern. However, she does struggle to do other things that require a cross pattern motion, such as marching in place while swinging her arms.

 

The theory underlies much of Glenn and Robert Doman's work, and I don't think they are respected by much of the medical community, fwiw.

[brehon]

Another vote for maybe, but not necessarily. None of my 4 crawled much before 11 months or so; they were also late walkers/talkers. Now you can't keep still or quiet most of the time. And, of the two who have the ability, the love reading. Anecdotal, perhaps, but I don't think any doctor worth his/her salt would ever worry about developmental delays based soley on crawling or not.

[Jenny in Florida]

My daughter didn't crawl early. In fact, as I recall, she didn't crawl at all until just before she walked, right around a year.

 

This is the one who started college at 12.

 

My son was mobile much earlier. I don't remember exactly when he crawled, but he was climbing well before a year. He's very bright, too, but is "only" starting high school work at age 11.

[JenniferB]

I've heard that children who crawl well before walking do better than children who don't crawl as much and start walking right away. I've also heard of distinctions with kids who crawl with their feet instead of their knees. I've never seen documentation, have just heard about it from various people.

 

What did you hear about babies who crawl on their feet instead of knees? My son did this, though he did crawl on his knees, he preferred his feet - I think because he could go faster and farther with every "step".

[Melora in NC]

You couldn't prove it by my kids. Both crawled early but started reading on a "normal" schedule.

[Reya]

development? Particularly with reading? Is this a researched and documented fact, a good probability based on your experience, or an old wive's tale?

 

Crawling will have the LEAST to do with anything mental than any other milestone. Lots of babies skip crawling completely. It's a kind of optional milestone.

 

As far as physical abilities go, one are two abilities extremely precociously doesn't mean much of anything. Systematically advanced abilities (extreme or not) are usually, but not always, associated with giftedness, but it's not a kind of "he walked at 10 mo, he's supposed to walk independently at 14, so he has an IQ of 140" kind of thing.

 

Black babies hit the milestones of the first year faster than white babies, too.

 

Among the very gifted, over 90% are advanced as babies. But again, crawling has nothing to do about it. And within the group, the most precocious weren't systematically the most gifted.

 

EDIT: So you don't think this has a personal bias--DS crawled early (about 7 mo, I think?) and DD is "scooting" on her belly now (not yet 5 mo).

Edited March 18, 2009 by Reya

[Reya]

I've heard that children who crawl well before walking do better than children who don't crawl as much and start walking right away. I've also heard of distinctions with kids who crawl with their feet instead of their knees. I've never seen documentation, have just heard about it from various people.

 

 

Nope. No correlation.

 

One data point: Mom didn't crawl. Walked at 9 mo. Read fluently at 2 years old.

[Reya]

I can't quote it, but yes, there does seem to be some evidence that this is so. I know that I've read about children who had severe developmental delays and whose therapy included crawling; in fact, they were not even able to crawl "properly" (left arm, right leg; left arm, right leg) and needed help to do so.

 

This is a bankrupt theory that had been disproven in every study done on it.

[Once]

This is a bankrupt theory that had been disproven in every study done on it.

 

 

I do not disagree with you. However, even the OT that worked with my daughter danced around therapies based on right left connection (read crawling therapy). The influence seems to remain. We did not complete the full OT but the therapist had several exercises that appeared to make efforts to strengthen the left right conection. From my experience, a parent with a child that struggles must come to terms with their own ideas around whether it works or not. I would be interested in names, dates and links that support your assertion as I am always looking to improve the way I approach my daughter. Perhaps the OP would be able to use them too.

[LNC]

I know those exercises are important in rehab and pt situations. I don't know if it is necessary for everyone.

Edited March 22, 2009 by LNC

[nandmsmom]

DS never crawled. He would cruise the furniture from 7 months on, then walked at 10 months. He read at 4 and has no LDs. I heard all the warnings, but it never seemed to be an issue for us.

[Reya]

I do not disagree with you. However, even the OT that worked with my daughter danced around therapies based on right left connection (read crawling therapy). The influence seems to remain. We did not complete the full OT but the therapist had several exercises that appeared to make efforts to strengthen the left right conection. From my experience, a parent with a child that struggles must come to terms with their own ideas around whether it works or not. I would be interested in names, dates and links that support your assertion as I am always looking to improve the way I approach my daughter. Perhaps the OP would be able to use them too.

 

 

Very digestible overview:

 

http://www.srmhp.org/archives/patterning.html

 

Children get better with patterning because they're gong to get better, period. Kids use both sides of their body when they WALK. It's old wine in new bottles to talk about cross-training the brain. It's something that feels good to do. That doesn't mean it works.

[newbie]

I didnt read the previous page, but both mine crawled late and walked after 13 mos.

 

They both are very intelligent, doing very well in school.

[Maria/ME]

This theory has nothing to do with the age of crawling, but whether the child ever learned to crawl and whether the child used it for locomotion. It has to do with cross-patterning movement and the effect on neurodevelopment. Some kids with processing and sequencing issues are helped by cross-patterning movement exercises. My son, who had lots of sensory and auditory processing issues and propioception problems did not have good cross-patterning movement (he rarely used his arms while walking, and when he did, they did not swing normally - i.e. left arm - right foot.) After we worked on cross-patterning exercises, his processing as well as overall coordination improved.

 

I haven't read all the responses, but wanted to verify in our case what "Dirty Ethel" has said. It has nothing to do with WHEN but IF the child learns to crawl.

My dd11 never crawled but did a little "butt scoot". She had good muscle tone in her legs but never had a desire to pull herself up. With physical therapy she learned to walk just fine. However, she was always a bit "hesitant" and "delayed" when it came to physical activity. But we get a "clean bill of health" from the dr's. Fast forward a few years and we are still concerned about these issues. And well, sensory issues are huge for her, proprioception is an issue and she's got gravitational insecurity "stuff" going on, too. She also seemed to have some vision issues despite her 20/20 eyesight. So we have been going to OT and much of what they work on are her "cross-crawl" movements. It's still a struggle for her. Her vision issues have been greatly helped by OT and Vision Therapy. Thus her reading/learning has improved.

 

I'm not as eloquent as Dirty Ethel but thought I'd chime in and say "Ditto" from our own experience!!

[MamaT]

My first dd was a "butt-scooter" who didn't walk until she was 17 months old. She has never had any other developmental issues and is very intelligent. She learned to read at 5. She has never had any physical delays either (other than walking late and never crawling). She started dancing at 3 yo and she is now a very accomplished dancer. She is a member of a ballet company and a jazz company.

 

In our experience, not crawling wasn't connected to any other issues.

[Maria/ME]

After reading MamaT I have to wonder what, if any, connection there was for our dd and not crawling. According to her OT there IS a connection. My guess is that my daughter was going to have certain issues anyway, but the not crawling amplified or exacerbated the issues.

 

Hmmmm...very interesting...I DO know that OT has helped my dd considerably!