Mom Crew is partnering with NYU’s BabyChildTeen research cohort of accomplished PhDs and professors on a monthly Lunch and Learn series. In April, Dr. Karen Adolph will lead a talk on gross motor development in babies.
Even before birth, babies learn to move. Perhaps less obvious is how – how do infants learn to control their eyes, head, limbs, and body? Reciprocally, the emergence of new motor skills during infancy enables new opportunities for learning. Indeed, each new motor ability – from basic head control to sitting, standing, crawling, and walking – provides new access to the environment, new ways to explore objects, and new ways to interact with people.
This informal workshop on infant motor development will present evidence-based strategies for promoting postural control—the foundation for all later skills—and for encouraging fine and gross motor skills in babies. We will discuss individual differences in motor pathways, and we will address the myths inherent in standard milestone charts, which falsely present motor development as a universal, orderly, sequential, step-like process. We will also discuss timing of motor milestones, and how the age of emergence of motor skills is related to caregivers’ childrearing practices.
There will be time for some questions at the end. Tickets will be available until 1 hour before the event. The Zoom will be recorded and sent to everyone who purchases a ticket in case you miss the live event.
By signing up for this event, you agree to be added to the Mom Crew and NYU BabyChildTeen mailing lists. You may unsubscribe at any time. If you would like to join without opting in, please email Mom Crew.
Tickets are nonrefundable but may be transferred to another mom by emailing Emily@MyMomCrew.com.
About Karen Adolph, Infant Action Lab
Karen Adolph is the Julius Silver Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Applied Psychology at New York University and a world-renowned expert on infant motor development. She uses observable motor behaviors to study developmental processes in infants and children. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science and Past-President of the International Congress on Infant Studies. She has received numerous awards, including the American Psychological Foundation Fantz Memorial and American Psychological Association Boyd McCandless awards. She chaired the NIH MFSR study section and currently serves on boards of the McDonnell Foundation, Developmental Psychobiology, and Motor Learning and Development. She has published 170+ articles and chapters. Her research has been continually funded by NIH/NSF since 1991. Most recently, she was featured as an expert on infant crawling in Netflix's Babies docuseries.