Researchers, led by former primary school teacher Pete Griffin, the founder of Open Doors Therapy, assessed the neuromotor immaturity of 60 reception children from Deanery C of E School in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.The aim of the study was to determine whether children who performed below their expected level, despite support and outstanding teaching, may have neuromotor immaturity, also known as neuro-developmental delay.
While similar research has been carried out, this is the first study to focus on children under the age of seven.
Children with more than one of the below may have neuromotor immaturity:
- Difficulty sitting still
- Poor sitting posture
- Writing problems
- Immature pencil grip
- History of being early (10 months old) or late (16 months old) at learning to walk
- History of being late at learning to talk.
Researchers assessed children's neuromotor immaturity using 14 tests devised by Sally Goddard Blythe, a consultant in neuro-developmental education and director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in Chester (INPP) in her book Assessing Neuromotor Readiness for Learning. According to Ms Goddard-Blythe, similar tests were used by doctors to assess the neuromotor skills of children starting school 30 years ago.
In the first test, children's asymmetrical tonic neck reflex was assessed. This is a primitive reflex found in newborn babies, but normally disappears around six months of age.
The second test measured children's ability to balance on one leg. This test assesses control of static balance and the ability to control balance using one side of the body independently from the other.
It can also determine the effects on language.
Children's ability to crawl on their hands and knees was also measured, along with their competence to rotate and turn their thumb to touch and oppose the tips of each finger. By the age of 30 months, a child should normally have developed finger/thumb opposition.
The findings showed that children whose results indicated serious issues in either of the tests tended to be in the bottom two ability groups. In total only 33 per cent of children with neuromotor immaturity were in the two highest academic groups compared to 77 per cent in the two lowest academic groups.
To improve the academic performance of those children with neuromotor immaturity, the school has introduced a targeted exercise programme designed by the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP).
The INPP exercise programme involves children replicating movements that they should have made in the first few months of life. The programme is designed to give children a second chance to make the connections that were not made as babies.
The findings from the INPP exercise programme are due at the end of the year. Researchers are also repeating the study with 60 nursery age children.
Pete Griffin said, 'The study is very timely as there has been a lot about school readiness in the media lately and debate over the age in which children should start school. Our research showed a correlation between children's assessment outcomes and how teachers group them.'
He added, 'By working with younger children we hope to pre-empt neuro-developmental delay and try to remove barriers so children can cope better at school.'