How Early Movement Shapes Brain Development: A Personal Story

Why Movement Milestones Matter for Brain Development

When Sophia was born, we knew her journey would be different. The casts she had for the first three months meant she wasn’t moving like most babies—no kicking, no stretching—just watching the world instead of actively engaging with it.

As she grew, we noticed how those early limitations influenced her development. She skipped crawling entirely at first and developed her own unique scoot—part shuffle, part determined drag across the floor. It was efficient, and she was fast, but it wasn’t the classic cross-body crawling that child development experts often emphasize. Then, at around 16-17 months, she started walking as if a switch had flipped.

The Connection Between Movement and Cognitive Growth

What really surprised us wasn’t just the physical change, but the shift in her personality. With each milestone, Sophia seemed to unlock a new layer of confidence, curiosity, and independence. Then, completely unexpectedly, she started crawling—properly crawling—long after she had already been walking.

This sudden interest in crawling made me think about something I recently read in A Brief History of Intelligence by Max S. Bennett (2023). The book explores how intelligence evolved through different stages, emphasizing the role of movement in the development of cognitive abilities. According to Bennett, intelligence didn’t just emerge through abstract thought—it developed through physical interaction with the environment, progressing from movement to problem-solving and eventually to language.

Watching Sophia’s development, I saw this theory playing out in real time. She wasn’t just learning to move—she was learning through movement. Crawling, even when it came later, seemed to activate something new in her.

Is Skipping Crawling a Problem? What Research Says

There’s research supporting this idea that early movement influences long-term cognitive abilities. Studies show that motor development plays a role in spatial awareness, problem-solving, and even mathematical skills later in life (Piek et al., 2008). Some studies suggest that skipping crawling could impact certain cognitive functions, particularly those related to coordination and spatial processing (Iverson, 2010).

Of course, every child develops differently, and milestones don’t always follow a strict timeline. But this experience made me rethink how we view early movement. It’s not just about physical growth—it’s about how movement builds the foundation for learning, problem-solving, and confidence.

Milestones Are a Journey, Not a Checklist

Looking back, I worried about whether missing a milestone would hold Sophia back. But now, I realize she wasn’t missing anything—she was just taking a different route.

Maybe intelligence, whether in humans or in artificial intelligence, isn’t about following a perfect sequence of steps. It’s about adapting, problem-solving, and finding your own way.

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References

• Bennett, M. S. (2023). A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains. HarperCollins.
• Iverson, J. M. (2010). Developing language in a developing body: The relationship between motor development and language development. Journal of Child Language, 37(2), 229–261.
• Piek, J. P., Dawson, L., Smith, L. M., & Gasson, N. (2008). The role of early fine and gross motor development on later motor and cognitive ability. Human Movement Science, 27(5), 668–681.