Sunday, February 17, 2008

Another reason to let babies mouth the instruments...

A fellow Music Together teacher in California sent the following post to our teacher listserve, and I thought I'd share:

"When babies are in the oral stage of development, they are also working on their fine motor skills.  There are nerve endings in the tongue that connect to the same part of the brain that governs fine motor control.  So, babies will be the most "mouthy" when they're working on their pincer grasp and other fine motor skills.  It's important that they mouth things a lot during this period, so the proper neural pathways are laid down to support their fine motor skills.

That connection between our mouths and the fine motor skills always stays with us; that's why we stick our tongues out when trying to do some fine motor skill, even as adults - notice yourself the next time you use a screwdriver (or attempt a cool guitar solo)."

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