Friday, May 27, 2011

The Benefits of Crawling

Letting baby crawl does more for her then just allowing her to explore and build her muscles. Research has proven time and time again that the act of crawling itself builds patterning in the brain that can help your child take in information and learn better.
Some children who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities or dyslexia are being taught how to crawl correctly and having amazing results. Research shows that it is never to late to re-pattern your brain. 
The brain is a complicated organ that still leaves researches amazed at it's abilities.
Baby Jake was brought in by his mother concerned that his reading level was so low for a third grader. He was barely reading three letter words. The doctor asked the mother how long the Jake had crawled as a baby. Since they lived in Alaska where winter temperatures drop so low the floors are too cold to crawl on, Jake had spent all those crawling months in a high chair. The doctor set him to crawling on the floor with a crossover pattern which means left leg right hand, right leg left hand motions. In one month's time Jake went from a first grade reading level to a third grade level which matched his age.
Is this a cure? Not necessarily, you must remember that many things including traumatic births, or injuries can cause children to have learning delays. However, this does give us some hope that simple developmental skills in our children are key in helping them later in life.