I was astonished to read that there has ever been a (now largely debunked) theory that reading difficulties & dyslexia are caused by children 'skipping the crawling phase of motor development.'
I don’t follow very closely the research about dyslexia, so perhaps it is not surprising that I have never come across this explanation before.
My daughter couldn’t get the hang of crawling at all. It used to worry me – she was obviously trying, but all she could manage was to lie on her tummy with her legs off the ground stuck out together behind her, head up, waving her arms – like a swimmer doing the butterfly. Getting down on the floor, trying to push her into the right position on her knees then moving first one leg then the other proved completely fruitless.
She soon solved the mobility problem in her own way, by hauling herself upright on the furniture & moving round on two feet; we developed a beautiful grey frieze along the wall in the hallway as she rushed up & down seeming to grow taller by at least an inch a day, & we had to put a safety gate across the entrance to the narrow kitchen. She soon learned to walk without the need to hang on to anything at an early age, & I forgot entirely about not crawling.
Fortunately she does not suffer from dyslexia in any way shape form or degree. So I am spared having one of those belated recurrences of maternal guilt –'If only I had sought help with her crawling problem.'
