Are more children in this generation experiencing motor difficulties? If so, why?

Modern society generally does not help children to actually master the skills they need that lead to whole brain integration. A variety of reasons have influenced the way children exercise and spend their free time. Computers, game boys and television have meant that after school, instead of playing outside with friends, many children go straight home and sit for the rest of the evening, frequently in very poor seating positions in front of screens. Hand-written letters are now most often replaced with word-processed, attractive alternatives and coloring, drawing and making models appear to be less favorable activities.

Safety is also another factor that has meant children do not go into play areas to climb, balance and run about as much as they did a few decades ago and certainly not without an adult. Even the very young do not escape this eagerness to protect and provide for, by preventing babies and toddlers moving around, and thus preventing vital motor and visual skills from developing. Baby cradles and other such equipment help parents entertain and occupy their young, but by using this type of equipment too much, babies do not get the opportunities to learn to crawl, develop hand–eye coordination skills and strengthen their neck and spine, all vital for many learning skills. Children do not even walk, let alone run as much as they did a few decades ago.

The school curriculum during the past thirty years has also greatly ignored the importance of supporting motor development. When first introduced in the late 1980s the National Curriculum squeezed the Art subjects so tightly that PE and Games lessons could only be fitted in once or perhaps twice a week. Hence, whether at home or in school, children’s motor skills were and are still not being practiced as much or for as long as many require them to be. Flat school tables and seats, often unsuitable for the size of the child, plus poor classroom organization, also play a part in causing major problems for many learners who have motor and/or ocular difficulties. Motor skills occur sequentially, but ‘the rate of development and the extent is determined individually and influenced by the task itself and factors in the environment. Basic motor skills do not simply unfold as part of a “master plan”, rather they are learned’ (Doherty and Bailey, 2003: 46).