• Movement progresses from primitive reflexes to voluntary, controlled movement 
• The sequence and rate of motor development are consistent across children 
• Low-Level skills are prerequisites for higher-level skills 
• Neuromaturation assumes a hierarchy of central nervous system function 

• piaget emphasized that development occurs through interplay between the environment and the child's innate abilities 
• Development is stagelike and discontinuous
• The infant is an active learner
• New research has shown the influence of culture, society and technology on children's development 

• Vygotsky demonstrated that children learn when scaffolding or support is provided by caregivers
• infant's skills promoted by modeling, assisting and reinforcement
• zone of proximal development
• a "just right challenge 
• infants have their own unique developmental trajectories 

• A child's actions are the result of subsystem interaction 
• A child's subsystems self-organize to achive a goal
• children show unique trajectories of development 
• functional goals motivate the child's actions

• An individuals perception of the environment informs action 
• the individual's actions provide feedback about movement, performance
• Affordance is the fit between the child and the environment
• manipulation is guided by visual, tactile and kinesthetic input 

• A child must first explore movement patterns
• A child then selects a function synergy
• Movement synergies are adaptable or softly assembled
• A child's functional synergies are highly adaptable and reliable (e.g., using a spoon with different foods.)

• Exploratory Activity
• Perceptual learning: child exhibits more consistency in the patterns
• Skill achievement: selects a pattern that is comfortable and efficient 

• Children are inherently self-organizing and goal directed 
• When children succeed in new tasks, they develop positive self efficacy 
• when they do not succeed, they are at risk for developing poor self efficacy and eventually do not attept new or challenging activities 

• activity level
• approach or withdrawal 
• distractibility
• intensity of response
• attention span and persistence 
• quality of mood
• rhythmicity
• threshold of response
• adaptability 

• easy
• difficult
• slow to warm up

• influence of the community
• Social participation (direct and indirect)
• vicarious learning 
• learning through active participation
• specific scaffolding, guidance, cueing, reinforcement 

• cultural
• social
• physical 

Development of Play Occupations: 

Infant: Birth - 6 Months 

• Play occupations: Exploratory Play, Social Play 
• Performance Skills: Fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, process: cognitive, social/interaction

• Play occupations: Exploratory Play, Social Play, Functional play  
• Performance Skills: Fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, process: cognitive, social/interaction, regulatory/sensory organization

• Play occupations: Relational and functional play, gross motor play, social play
• Performance Skills: regulatory/sensory organization, fine motor/manipulation. gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social 

• Play occupations: functional play, gross motor play, pretend or symbolic play, social play 
• Performance skills: regulatory/sensory organization, fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social 

• Play occupations: symbolic play, constructive play, gross motor play, social play
• performance skills: regulatory/sensory organization, fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social 

• Play occupations: complex imaginary play, constructive play, rough and tumble play, social play
• Performance Skills: fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social

Play occupations: games with rules. constructive play, social play; dramatic play

Performance skills: fine motor/manipulative, gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social 

• Play occupation: games with rules, dramatic play, sports, social play 
• Performance skills: fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, cognition, social

• Play occupations: games with rules, crafts and hobbies, organized sports, social play
• Performance skills: fine motor/manipulation, gross motor/mobility, cognitive, social

• demonstrate the ability to associate learning from one sensory system with another sensory system. 
• recognize objects with their eyes that they previously felt in their mouths 

children 9 - 19 months solved problems in how to approach the grasp and use of a spoon. by 19 months, children planned how to grasp and orient the spoon to get food before starting the action. 

- shows that a child as early as 19 months can solve problems without physical manipulation and trial and error to handle a tool accurately