The Relationship Between Crawling And Literacy
Can you imagine your little boy climbing a ladder? If you go step by step, it will be easier for you to reach the top than if you skip a few steps, right? Something similar happens in the relationship between crawling and literacy. Next, let’s explain this correlation.
Two activities that, a priori, may seem so different are, in fact, complementary. Why? Because, as in the case of the ladder, if we overcome each step without skipping any, the learning process is easier.
This is symbolized by the specialist teacher Laura Estremera, who differentiates between the maturation of the child and its learning process. If we do not skip any steps in their development phase, we will achieve that the difficulties are minimized during the child’s first years, as these are very important for their future.
The learning process and the relationship between crawling and literacy
Thus, crawling, which is an achievement that the little one reaches between 9 months and the first year of life, is linked to the assimilation of writing and reading, in the same way as with other milestones that the baby goes through during its early development.
It is because, when the baby crawls, the human brain, from its corpus callosum, communicates both hemispheres and activates the crossed pattern of movement. Thus, you can simultaneously move both sides of your body.
According to Professor Estremera, the child begins with the contralateral crawl. That is, its movement makes use of an arm and the opposite foot simultaneously. Thus, we see the maturation of his brain, which in the future will be related to the learning of literacy and other movements of the child.
That said, while the crawling stage lasts, the little one works on certain physical and psychological aspects that will mark his future development. For example, stability, fine and gross motor skills, touch in the palms, strength, etc.
The little one matures the crossed paths in crawling and these are linked to lateral dominance, so he already uses the hand with which he has more dexterity. So when you sit down, for example, you start to learn how to grip your fingers. This movement will be closely related to the use of pencils when writing, which are held by the thumb and forefinger.
Free movements and literacy
The child, little by little, begins to move with greater ease and develops, in turn, his exploratory capacity and vision. This coordination involves using your hand, eyes, and your entire body to, for example, obtain an object that interests you.
With crawling and free movement, the child becomes aware of the space that surrounds him, discovering the height, depth, distance … All this allows him to coordinate the eye and the hand, a fact that will be very relevant when the little one begins to write and unify the information received with the ultimate purpose that it will seek, which will be to read or write, as we have already commented.
Therefore, crawling, like literacy, is an evolving maturation process, so it is not necessary to have an adult present all the time who wants to speed up the process. As the pediatrician specialist Emmi Pikler affirms, the child learns by himself at his own pace and evolves when he is ready for it.
It is harmful to want to accelerate the child’s natural learning processes. Thus, both during the crawling stage and later, when the infant learns to read and write, if he has climbed all the natural “steps” of his development, he will have the opportunity to handle both actions in due time with ease.
The relationship between crawling and literacy and non-interference
With that said, remember: let the child set their rhythms. It is important not to interfere and to accompany and guide from respect. It will be the infant who, little by little, asks to learn more.
In the relationship between crawling and literacy we find the same situation. The little one will first establish some knowledge that, in the future, will be vital so that, later, they continue to learn until adulthood and beyond.
