The following article appeared in the August 1985 Back-to-School issue of the

publication Family & Friends published in Houston, Texas by Sandy Gouy.

LEARNING The Real Basics

By W. Jean Foster & Dr. Verna M. Petersen
The most frustrating experience for a parent is watching a child struggle with school
work when everyone knows that he can do it. This frustration can be triggered by
actual low grades, by an inordinate amount of time being spent on simple assignments, or
by carelessness and seeming inattention. How often are children asked. Did you
listen? or If you knew it, why didnt you do it? And then comes the answer that drives
adults to distraction I dont know. That I dont know is unacceptable to the teacher.
Its unacceptable to the parent and to the child it is the most frustratingly unacceptable
answer that he has. Yet it is his only answer. However, this non-answer is really an
S.O.S. to all of the support adults trying to help him achieve his potential.
Concerned educators and parents alike have acknowledged a need for an effective
solution to this multi-faceted frustration, which affects a vital part of a childs life
experience-learning. Thus, they have pushed for a return to the basics, reading, writing,
and arithmetic. But why did education leave the basics? Why were other approaches
to education tried? The answer is simple: just reading, writing and arithmetic didnt
work. Will they work any better today? Or are there other basics that should be given
some attention?
Earlier research suggested that the proficiency level of developmental skills (motor
skills) directly related to academic achievement. Articles appeared in newspapers and
periodicals relating running and skipping to reading proficiency. Over the years
additional research not only supported this suggestion but allowed for specific correlation
between the 13 areas of motor developmental skills, the roots of learning.
The first step to understanding the importance of the relationship of developmental skills
to academic achievement is taken by finding the root skills for reading, writing, and
arithmetic. Reading is divided into two separate elements: word attack skills and
comprehension. Word attack skills grow from the ability to function cross-laterality. A
child with good word attack skills is one who experienced good pre-walking skills such
as crawling. Cross-laterality is Mary Tyler Moore at the beginning of her television show
walking beside the lake, her arms swinging proportionately to her stride. Word attack
skills are diminished when any one of a childs arms or legs fails to do its proportionate
share in propelling him/her in whatever cross-lateral movement he/she performs. Crosslaterality is also perceptual speed and punctuation. It is how one sees patterns and
structures. It is spelling.

The second basic, writing, is very closely related to comprehension, as both are
vocabulary-oriented areas of learning. Comprehension and the ability to express ones
self in written language as well as to use expressive language verbally is laterality.
Laterality is ones ability to use one side of his body without the other side being
involved. Laterality influences word association. It is the root skill for how one talks and
takes in other peoples words. It determines whether one can recognize, understand, or
instantly see in his minds eye the difference between red and scarlet when reading a
beautiful poem. Laterality is the real basic for ones ability to communicate
throughout life because it represents comprehension and word usage skills. It is
vocabulary.
The third basic, arithmetic, is one of the most misunderstood subject that is studied in
school. How often is After all, shes very good in language and reads beautifully, so we
dont expect her to do well in math, used as an explanation for poor math grades or for
math grades significantly lower than grades in other subjects. Yet interestingly,
arithmetic has only one root skill that is different from reading and writing, bilaterality.
Arithmetic requires strong bilateral skills because it is a subject that requires mental
visualization of unseen quantity- conceptualizing on a regular basis. Bilaterality
provides the impetus for growth and fluency of conceptualization. How many people
have ever seen a million of anything? Yet, we multiply, divide and project all types of
mathematical operations into numbers that we have never actually experienced. The
child having difficulty in conceptualizing will find it difficult to maintain a quiet body.
This movement is often interpreted as an inability to attend to the business at hand.
However, to make a child sit still when his bilateral skills are not strong enough to
support the arithmetic functions of his assignment is like asking him not to breathe.
The thirteen developmental skills, singly and in combination, correlate to specific
academic subjects and mental processings. The level of proficiency of these skills is
demonstrated daily in the classroom and at home. The signals that are sent to teachers
and parents are often times not received. When these S.O.S. signals are picked up by a
childs support adults and efforts are made to improve the proficiency of the weak skill,
or skills, the speed with which growth occurs is startling. Developmental skills in
children under 11 respond quickly because the children are still in the period of their lives
when these skills grow naturally if they are provided with an environment conducive to
their use and the opportunity to use that environment. However, older children and adults
can also improve their developmental skills but the results are slower in coming and the
activities must be more concentrated.
Does your child have his real basics or is he sending out an S.O.S.?
About the Authors:
Dr. Verna Peterson and W. Jean Foster are the program directors and consultants for
Academic Skills Services, Inc.s Learning Center. All types of educational testing,
screening, remediation, and tutoring are available. The Developmental Assessment for
motor skills is available only at the Learning Center. All ages from pre-school to
university level students find answers and results at the learning place in the village.

LOCOMOTOR
LEARNING
INSTITUTE
DEFINITIONS OF DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS
Body Awareness
An understanding of ones body, its individual parts, and how the body works in relation
to itself, other objects and other people.
Spatial Awareness
The ability to work within ones own space; the ability to organize people and objects in
relation to ones own body.
Balance
The ability to assume and maintain a position or activity when in contact with Mother
Earth or her substitute.
Dynamic Balance
The ability to maintain control of the body when suspended in air (not touching Mother
Earth) for a length of time. For example: Jumping.
Cross-Laterality
The ability to use opposite sides of the upper and lower body at the same time in a
smooth, rhythmic manner.
Laterality
The ability to use one side of the body smoothly and evenly while being able to
distinguish between left and right sides of the body.
Bi-Laterality
The ability to use the upper and lower parts of the body independently.
Tracking
The ability to perform tasks involving objects and people against a vertical or horizontal
plane outside ones own space.

Center-line
The ability to perform tasks directly centered on oneself and to be able to work to either
side of ones centerline.
Eye-Foot Coordination
The ability to use the eyes and hand together to accomplish a given task.
Eye-Hand Coordination
The ability to use the eyes and hand together to accomplish a given task.
Eye-Hand-Foot Coordination
The ability to use the eyes, hands, and feet together to accomplish a given task.
Locomotor
The ability to move from one point to another using any basic movement or combination
of movements in a smooth, fluid manner without breaking the pattern of the movement.

LOCOMOTOR
LEARNING
INSTITUTE
DEFINITIONS OF COGNITIVE SKILLS
CONCEPTUALIZATION
The ability to accept and translate new ideas in relation to already existing ideas and
information.
PATTERNING
The ability to recognize, see, the order in a series of items or the repeating schemes.
VISUAL DISCRIMINATION
The ability to recognize parts within a whole; the ability to recognize shapes, sizes, etc.
PERCEPTUAL SPEED
The speed with which one responds and processes that which is seen.
VERBAL ABILITY
The ability to express ones self with oral vocabulary.
COGNITION
The ability to translate ones sensorial experiences into the learning process.
REASONING
The ability to form decisions, conclusions, judgments, or inferences from information
being presented.
MEMORY
The ability to recall facts (either long term or short term).

FOSTER EDUCATIONAL GROUP

3005 Albans, Houston Texas 77005

ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENTAL GROWTH

Developmental Area

Activity

Body Awareness

Simon Says Aerobics for Children

Calisthenics, Twister
Playing Statue

Spatial Awareness

Puzzle, Manipulatives
Obstacle courses set-up on driveway
for tricycle or bicycle

Balance

Walking beams or ropes on ground

Twister, Playing Statue
Riding a bicycle

Dynamic Balance

Hop Scotch, Jumping rope, Diving

Playing on a trampoline (only
if refining a good skill

Cross-Laterality

Running, Walking (regular, on

tiptoes, on heels), Imitating animal
movements that are cross lateral

Laterality

Galloping, Walking on all fours

like a bear, Walking like a duck
or gorilla

Bi-Laterality

Hopping like a rabbit

Swimming: breast stroke and
butterfly stroke, Dribbling a
basketball while moving
Driving a golf ball, Putt-putt gol

ACTIVITIES FOR COGNITIVE GROWTH

Cognitive Area

Activity

Conceptualization

Reading to the child and discussing

the story. Password, Charades
Family Feud

Patterning

Stringing beads following given

pattern or design.
Building models, Building w/blocks,
legos, Tinker Toys, etc.
Weaving, Mastermind

Verbal Ability

Jr. Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit, Telling stories

Visual Discrimination

Hidden pictures, Mazes Dot-to-dot

pictures, Word scrambles, Word
finds, Coloring bOOKS

Perceptual Speed

Checkers, Chinese Checkers

Solitaire, Slap Jack, Crazy Eight
Old Maid, Perfection

Cognition

Charades Password
Wheel of Fortune

Reasoning

Solitaire, Monopoly
Rummy (animal and
regular)Tic-Tac Dice
Yahtzee, Spill and Spell

Memory

Memory, Concentration
Card games