Crawling skills can affect reading skills (?)

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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling

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If your child didn't crawl at all or didn't crawl properly:

He/ she is struggling with reading

18%

[ 13 ]

He/ she is reading beautifully

81%

[ 57 ]

Total Votes : 70

amother

Hosta

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 8:37 am

amother Hosta wrote:

One of my kids scooted around on his bottom instead of crawling. Was very advanced, riding a two wheeler at three, and had/has no reading issues whatsoever.

We decided it was his personality - he's creative and needed an original way of getting around....

Just want to add that I did have two children who had difficulty learning to read. They were my two earliest, most coordinated kids.... they WERE diagnosed with convergence insufficiency by my optometrist so obviously that was the reason. Not related to crossing the midline or anything like that (they were both advanced in that area, actually....).

People tend to correlate ADD with dyslexia, but at least for one of my children, he did not have ADD AT ALL.

I personally do see a correlation with delayed gross/fine motor skills and ADD, no idea if that's backed up by research. I feel like it may be that organizing your body and organizing your life might be related....

amother

Scarlet

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 8:38 am

My oldest didn't crawl, he sat and used his hands to pull himself around.
He had a lot of reading issues and needed vision therapy and trampoline exercises.

My youngest also didn't crawl but went straight to walking. My pediatrician told me to play crawling games with him after he learns to walk, so I've been trying to do that.

amother

Lightpink

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 9:47 am

Yes my son never crawled and had reading issues.

amother

Narcissus

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 10:12 am

I never crawled, went straight to walking at 9 months.
It did not delay my reading, I was already reading chapter books in first grade and have been reading voraciously since.
BUT.. I have low muscle tone and terrible fine motor skills. I don't hold a knife properly and have horrific handwriting.
My doctor claims its a result of not crawling.
Maybe yes, Maybe not???? Either way I'm ok today.
If I would have been born ten years later I probably would have gotten intense PT & OT but that didn't happen and I am actually a functional mother today so...

Kiwi13

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 10:21 am

amother OP wrote:

I'm a reading specialist and as I ask parents about child development during my evaluations, I'm noticing that many children who are struggling with reading didn't crawl properly (right hand, left foot coordination) as a baby.
Wondering if anyone else noticed this...

(Obviously, I'm not saying that all reading disabilities come from not crawling... I'm experienced with many reading disabilities. I'm wondering about the correlation between non-crawlers and non-readers)

This sounds like a misleading correlation. It's possible that a child who experiences global delays, which is often (but not always) the case with kids who miss or are severely delayed in gross motor milestones, trouble with midline crossing, etc, will also struggle with reading. But all of it would have an underlying cause that probably differs from kid to kid. Speaking as a mother of a child who was/is globally delayed and I hope he will learn to read one day, but we've got a long way to go on even the pre literacy skills.

Kiwi13

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 10:27 am

Also, my older child who basically skipped crawling, aside from an army style crawl or whatever you want to call it, is reading very well in both English and Hebrew. His test scores are fascinating to me. At 6 years old, he was performing most tasks at a younger level, but many on age level, and then his vocabulary and verbal reasoning skills matched that of a 14.7-year old. (This was not surprising to anybody, the kid TALKS, and he is well spoken!!)

Still, I have limited faith in these tests. They measure what they measure. How the kid is doing and feeling is most important.

synthy

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 11:46 am

I never crawled, only shlepped myself around in a sitting position. I started walking at 18 months, was talking long before that. Taught myself to read at age 5. No motor skill development issues BH.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 2:29 pm

My children are top students BH and never crawled on their knees. Relax.

amother

Wheat

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 2:33 pm

Just got an email from a friend of mine. Check this out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rdY2yhfL3lk

Discussed the eyes and crawling party.

amother

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 4:17 pm

amother Wallflower wrote:

What kind of reading specialist are you? I’m surprised you are not aware that there is growing evidence about the importance on crawling on brain development.

As for the type of reading specialist I am, I am trained in Orton Gillingham, Wilson and some parts Davis. I have many years of experience and have personally worked with 60 children with dyslexia with great success. I also perform basic academic evaluations upon request.

I am very aware of the evidence and have read many research papers and articles on this topic. I want to hear from people irl about their experiences. (I'm not basing anything I do in practice on the results I get on Imamother of course.)

synthy

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 4:24 pm

I'm wondering if we're getting things backwards. Maybe the same issue that's causing reading challenges in some kids is why it's challenging for them to crawl as well?

amother

Thu, Nov 17 2022, 5:10 pm

synthy wrote:

I'm wondering if we're getting things backwards. Maybe the same issue that's causing reading challenges in some kids is why it's challenging for them to crawl as well?

I was wondering the same thing for a while....

amother

Cornsilk

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 10:43 pm

I did hear that it’s never to late and people are seeing results when having the (however old) kid crawl in the correct way a few min each day. There is a specific way for it to be done I’m not familiar.

amother

Maize

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 11:00 pm

I never crawled and I'm an avid reader from a young age, however this thread got me thinking about the tasks I do struggle with, certain fine motor skills like snapping and tying shoe laces are very difficult, I have terrible handwriting and can't write for long before my hand starts aching and I recently started going to pt because I have achy knees and back from regular mommy movements such as bending down and holding baby as if I were in my 90s not 20s anyways I do wonder if this is all related

amother

Hosta

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 9:13 am

amother Maize wrote:

Of course it's related. You probably have low muscle tone which affects you in all these areas.

amother

Maize

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 9:30 am

amother Hosta wrote:

Of course it's related. You probably have low muscle tone which affects you in all these areas.

Interesting! I wonder what I can do about it now

amother

Beige

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 10:06 am

synthy wrote:

I'm wondering if we're getting things backwards. Maybe the same issue that's causing reading challenges in some kids is why it's challenging for them to crawl as well?

This is probably true for some people, but what’s also true is that many babies aren’t being set up for successful crawling, ie spending too much time in a seat or swing, swaddling, not enough tummy time, tongue ties etc so that even though they technically don’t have delays or difficulties, they’re just not passing that phase developmentally and missing out on a ton of midline crossing neural wiring building

amother

Wallflower

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 10:14 am

synthy wrote:

I'm wondering if we're getting things backwards. Maybe the same issue that's causing reading challenges in some kids is why it's challenging for them to crawl as well?

It's not backwards. Young children literally train their brains by their experiences which cause their brains to wire correctly. That's why we have developmental milestones that we look out for because they teach the brain correct wiring. This is a very simplified explanation.

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