Child Motor Skills

 Back to:  Therapist Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns

My daughter turned 1 year on 12/29/10. She is not crawling, pulling up, cruising or getting herself into a sitting position from lying down. I am wondering if I should be worried about this? I had some concerns at 9 months old. Since then, she has shown major improvement in that she can scoot across the floor on her butt some and is at least TRYING to pull up. Is she just slower in development or is there a problem here?

Since your daughter has turned one year, I am not concerned that she is not yet walking, but since she is not able to get into a sitting position and is not independently crawling, this does concern me a bit. She may just need some trunk or upper/lower extremity strengthening, and help with learning to transition in and out of positions or she could have low or high muscle tone with would make it more difficult for her to complete certain motor skills. I would definitely recommended calling your local early intervention provider and requesting a physical therapy evaluation for your child so they can give you concrete ideas on how to help your daughter continue to progress with her motor skills. While some children do move about by scooting on their butt as you described, this is not a "typical" pattern of movement and if she is scooting toward furniture and then trying to pull up directly from sitting on her butt to standing, this is not the pattern of movement we want to encourage. Instead we want her to be able to transition to a hand/knee crawling position and then get into a half kneel to pull up to standing. Crawling is a very important developmental milestone and as therapists we don't like kids to skip this skill, even though some do and go straight to walking independently.

This is a link to an article on the importance of crawling wish you may wish to read.

Back to:  Therapist Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns

Return to Top