North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Virtual Conference June 11–12, 2020

Motor DevelopmentOtteroo Aquatic Experience Accelerates Motor Development During the First 18 Months of LifeDavid I. Anderson, San Francisco State University; Minxuan He, University of MarylandThe rate of motor skill acquisition during infancy is particularly sensitive to experience. Variations in child rearing can lead to large disparities in the attainment ages for specific motor milestones, which in turn can lead to large disparities in psychological development. The current study focused on an under-investigated aspect of early motor experience – the influence of aquatic experience on motor development. The main purpose was to determine if use of an infant neck floatation device (an Otteroo) is associated with earlier acquisition of specific motor skills during the first 18 months of life. Because the Otteroo allows infants to express or practice movements that would be much more difficult on land, we expected greater use to predict earlier skill onsets. Parents of 46 infants (20 g...