Did you know that coordination plays a vital role in school readiness and the ability to complete many daily activities?
According to research, visual-motor coordination plays an important role in determining school readiness in children who are physically fit and have better visual-motor coordination as they are more motivated to learn new aspects of coordination as well as engaging in an environment exploration or motor skill learning, which in turn may benefit their cognitive development. (Oberer, N., Gashaj, V., & Roebers, C.M. 2018).
That is why our new focus area for our term 3 at Kids Heart Pilates classes is coordination and proprioception development.
But what is Coordination?
Coordination has 2 categories.
1. VISUAL MOTOR COORDINATION
Visual-motor coordination is the umbrella term for more commonly referenced coordination types such as hand-eye and foot-eye coordination. It refers to the ability to process visual information to then guide our body to respond accordingly. Examples of hand-eye and foot-eye coordination include kicking a moving ball or throwing a ball at a target.
2. BILATERAL COORDINATION
This type of coordination is the ability to use both sides of the body in a single action. This could mean moving the same leg with the same arm (symmetrical) or opposite limbs (asymmetrical). 3 activities that require the use of bilateral coordination include:
• Crawling
• Marching
• Walking
By including elements of coordination practice into our children’s activities or through movement programs like the Kids Heart Pilates program, we are constantly encouraging the development of coordination and motor skills as well as cognitive development.
A study by Kim et.al found positive correlations between fine motor coordination and mathematical skills in a kindergarten cohort, suggesting the cross-over between motor coordination and cognitive skills (Oberer, N., Gashaj, V., & Roebers, C.M. 2018).
Physical activity is a sure way to include coordination practice into our children’s lives. Just being outside or participating in online programs creates an environmental opportunity to use both bilateral coordination and visual-motor coordination. So let’s continue to make physical activity an essential part of our children’s daily routine.
REFERENCES:
Han, A., Fu, A., Cobley, S., & Sanders, R. (2018). Effectiveness of exercise intervention on improving fundamental movement skills and motor coordination in overweight/obese children and adolescents: A systematic Review. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 21(1), 89-102
Oberer, N., Gashaj, V., & Roebers, C.M. (2018). Executive functions, visual-motor coordination, physical fitness and academic achievement: longitudinal relations in typically developing children. Human Movement Science, 58, 69-79.
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