Relationship between crawling and reading skills

[mamica]

Has anyone else heard that the experience of crawling has been shown to be related developmentally in some way to reading skills? I've heard this from 2 unrelated word-of-mouth sources, one of whom is involved in some kind of literacy nonprofit, but I've never read about it anywhere.

Apparently it has something to do with the spatial reference of having things within arm's reach at eye level/. So, even play activities while on the floor (or trying to locomote!) can have an impact.

I guess I should do a search online, but I wondered if anyone here is familiar with this research?

[Saartje]

I'm sure someone here will have better information than I do, but IIRC, there was once a study that showed a correlation (but not necessarily any causation) between children who skipped straight from sitting to walking without crawling in between, and children who later suffered from learning disabilities. I also have a vague memory of even the correlation being disproved by a later study, but I'm not sure about that part.

[mamica]

I searched a bit online, and there is very limited info on this that I could find. Opinions seem to be mixed, but some referenced vaguely the study you mention, while others say its old research that's not necessarily true. I would love to hear what anyone else know about this...

[rlu]

DH did not crawl as a child and was later diagnosed with dyslexia. Part of the therapy was learning to crawl.

That was back in the 70s though. Not sure what current research is indicating. We watched DS like a hawk and celebrated when he started crawling like a fiend.

eta Not crawling did not cause dyslexia, didn't mean to imply that if anyone inferred that. We are concerned regarding dyslexia and were told (not sure by who or if this is credible) that not crawling might be a signal to watch for.

[maestramommy]

I haven't heard of this but I once had a student that was so uncoordinated she couldn't even clap her hands together with a steady beat. She was in 5th grade. My colleague told me this girl did very little crawling when she was a babe, probably because she had an older sister, and wanted to walk sooner. She said something about the opposing limbs moving in crawl cause many of the synapes in the brain to form that deal with physical coordination.

On a related issue, a friend once had the opportunity to see stroke victims in PT, and one of the treatments was to lie on their back and have the arms and legs do the "crawling motion." If they were paralyzed, it was done for them. This was done to heal portions of the brain that were damaged. I thought it was interesting.

[kijip]

I don't know. A teacher friend (new friend) of mine correctly guessed that Toby was an early roller/mover/crawler based on his early reading but I don't have anything to prove that. I sort of thought it was a lucky guess.

[trumansmom]

I've heard this, and I believe there was a thread on it a year or two ago. If I remember correctly, the study was somewhat flawed.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04

[JBaxter]

My cousin ( 16 yrs younger than me) skipped crawling and walked at 9 months. Taught himself to read at 4. Finished his undergrad in 3yrs and is now carring a 4.0 in law school.

LOL bet it was disproved LOL

[Saartje]

Not to pooh-pooh your cousin's accomplishments, but I very much doubt the study ever showed a 100% correlation between the two (ie, not all children who didn't crawl would have learning disabilities, and not all children with learning disabilities would have skipped crawling). :)

[sdbc]

I also recall reading something about the opposing limb motion being good for cognitive development. It was word-of-mouth, though.

Sue, mommy to Aurora (Rory) born 5/13/04