Grace Marshall

Secondary General Methods

Dr. Gerrity

6, December 2019

Adolescence and Motor Skills

Being a secondary general music teacher means introducing new skills and information to

adolescents that they may not receive without a music education. Music introduces many new

physical challenges to students. If instrumental music of any kind is incorporated in the general

music classroom, students learning to play the instruments will need time to develop these new

skills since some of them are unnatural at first. Each instrument poses its own unique physical

challenges. Some require different muscle groups than others. For example: learning guitar

requires fine wrist and finger movements plus the strength to hold the instrument, and learning

the recorder requires control of the diaphragm and lungs as well as the fingers. These are new

movements that students may have never concentrated on doing before. It is indisputable that

new motor skills take time and practice—that is to be expected while working with adolescents.

As a music teacher introducing new skills, it is important to keep in mind that some students will

face extra physical challenges besides those that are typically expected from adolescents.

While typical development changes some aspects of normally developing adolescents’

physical abilities, there are some adolescents that have additional challenges like Dyspraxia,

ADHD, Autism, and other learning disabilities. Lisa Kurtz, author of Understanding Motor Skills

in Children with Dyspraxia, ADHD, Autism, and Other Learning Disabilities : A Guide to

Improving Coordination, says, “It’s not hard to recognize a child who struggles with

coordination difficulties. This is the child who may present with a normal appearance in every
other way, yet constantly attracts the attention of play-mates and adults by dropping everything

that is handled, tripping over the smallest of obstacles, and falling frequent victim to a variety of

minor “accidents” related to physical awkwardness” (Kuntz 11). In other words, those who have

the appearance of being clumsy may be struggling as a direct result of a motor skill deficiency.

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (also referred to as ASD or Autism) are directly

affected, but not as much as those who have Cerebral Palsy. These motor skill deficiencies will

likely not last into adulthood—they mostly affect early childhood and adolescent people with

ASD. (Travers 2).

One of the highest contributing factors to motor skill development in adolescents is the

rate at which they grow. In a study done by Maria Cristina Bisi and Rita Stagni on the

development of gait motor control after sudden growth spurts, they studied 88 adolescents—19

of which went through extreme growth spurts that equaled 3 or more centimeters. This study’s

purpose was to compare the ability of adolescents to walk and simultaneously do tasks that

engage fine motor skills. This study is longitudinal—it took place over the course of a few

months and the controlled variables, the tasks, stayed the same each time while the height and

skills of the children may have changed over time. The article says, “the findings of the present

work suggest that growth spurt during adolescence affects variability, smoothness and regularity

of gait but not its stability” (Bisi and Stagni 11). This means that the subjects that were rapidly

growing were much more likely to have minor flaws in the performance of the tasks but were

able to complete them for the most part. There were no outliers who failed miserably but there

were some that showed some rhythmic irregularity in their walking—as in they would speed up

and slow down for what seemed to be with no reason. Clumsiness with the hands and arms were

common, but that did not completely hinder their performance. The conclusions of the study are
not at all surprising if one considers typical actions associated with adolescents. Most people

think of children at this age as clumsy and awkward. While that is not wrong, this issue does not

pose an impossible challenge to them in their daily life considering that they are normally

developing and functioning children. As music educators, we must keep in mind that the constant

state of growth for some adolescents poses some motor skill challenges that could affect

performance during hands on activities. It is difficult for some students to do multiple things at a

time because their bodies are changing rapidly, and the muscles are underdeveloped.

Outside factors also have the potential to affect motor development of adolescents. Home

life is one of the most prominent of these outside factors. Teachers have little to no control over

the home life and the care of children. Sometimes students do not receive the nutrition,

stimulation, or nurturing that they need for development. There was a study done in 1985 for

pediatric research on the effects of early malnutrition on subsequent development by Janina R.

Galler, Frank Ramsey, and Giorgio Solimano. The subjects consisted of two groups—one was an

index group that was properly nourished in their early childhood while the second group was

consistently malnourished and ingested far less food containing protein. Timed tasks were set up

for them to accomplish. The subjects performed the task with their left hand, right hand, and

both. The results of this study concluded that, “using this test, we have observed that children

with prior malnutrition have lower scores on all tasks except those of the nondominant hand”

(Galler, Ramsey, Solimano 527). The nondominant hand can be easily dismissed in the results

because the development of one side more commonly exceeds the other—in other words, it

makes sense and was expected that their nondominant hands did not perform as well as their

dominant hands. This serves as proof that children of all ages need proper nutrition in order to

develop physically and cognitively. While this is not something that teachers can necessarily
control, teachers can control the approach they take in their lessons and teaching students who

are developmentally behind for reasons like this.

Another aspect of outside factors includes the physical stimulation children are given

early on and how that can affect their development into adolescence. In a kinesiology study done

in 2015 on the correlation between childhood physical activity and adolescent motor skills it says

that, “studies found positive relationships between [fine motor skills] and physical activity”

(Logan, Webster, Getchell, Pfeiffer, Robinson 423). Something to be considered is that motor

skills are also required to partake in physical activity, so they are codependent variables. The

motor skills allow physical activity to take place and the physical activity enhances the motor

skills. Because we know that this is true, it is important that preadolescents and adolescents

maintain a level of physical activity to enhance motor skill development. It is, however, most

detrimental to the adolescent stage according to the findings of the compilation of studies

(AUTHORS 423). Secondary music teachers specifically may not have much, if any, control

over the early childhood physical activity of students, but it is important to understand that this is

a factor and encourage students to maintain physical activity for more reasons than for their

music education.

It is necessary for music teachers to understand the factors that contribute to the

development of students’ motor skills when taking any approach to teaching the classroom any

kind of instrument in a general music class. There are many obstacles and outside forces that

affect their individual development. Knowing that common factors of development, like growth

spurts, can limit them physically at this point in their lives will help the teacher be more

understanding of latent clumsiness or dysfunction while manipulating objects in the classroom.

The teacher should also be made aware of any learning disabilities or physical disabilities that
students may have in order to cater lessons to their needs. Outside factors, including home lives,

can negatively and positively affect motor skill development as well, so it is important to be

aware of students’ performances in the classroom as well as the signs pointing to poor home

lives that are present. Whatever the factor, teachers need to build lessons around the students and

their physical abilities in order to make the classroom engaging for everyone.
 Works Cited

Brittany G. Travers, 1, 2, Erin D. Bigler, 3, 4, Tyler C. Duffield, 3, Molly D.B. Prigge, 5. Alyson

L. Froehlich, 5, Nicholas Lange, 6 ,7 ,8, Andrew L. Alexander 2 ,9, 10, and Janet E.

Lainhart 2,10 (2017). Longitudinal Development of Manual Motor Ability in Autism

Spectrum Disorder from Childhood to Mid-Adulthood Relates to Adaptive Daily Living

Skills.

Bisi, Maria Cristina and Stagni, Rita (2016). Development of Gait Motor Control: What Happens

After a Sudden Increase in Height During Adolescence?

Galler, Janina R., Ramsey, Frank and Solimano Giorgio (1985). A Follow-Up Study of the

Effects of Early Malnutrition on Subsequent Development. 11. Fine Motor Skills in

Adolescence.

Kurtz, Lisa A. (2008). Title:Understanding Motor Skills in Children with Dyspraxia, ADHD,

Autism, and Other Learning Disabilities : A Guide to Improving Coordination.

Logan, Samuel W., Webster, E. Kipling, Getchell, Nancy, Pfeiffer, Karin A. and Robinson, Leah

E. (2015). Relationship Between Fundamental Motor Skill Competence and Physical

Activity During Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review.