Late Walkers Are Smarter???

Hi- What I have noticed raising two girls and being around tons of other kids in the process is that it seems babies are either more physical or more verbal/intellectual. Imagine trying to do it all at once! The real physical ones who crawl/walk early and are always going somewhere frequently aren't the big talkers. My oldest didn't walk until 14 months but spoke very well at a young age and had a really high vocabulary. She would sit and look at books and could talk with adults in a way more characteristic of a much older child. My youngest was super physical, walked at a much younger age and was always going somewhere or climbing something. She did not speak clearly and was not real verbal until she was older. Now they both talk (a lot) and are great students, read constantly and are very intelligent little girls. Babies have so much to learn and take in. I think the ones who are more inclined towards physical activities focus on those and the thinkers are going to show more gains in verbal and intellectual ways. Beleive me you can't tell much about long term intelligence when they are really young unless they are at a genious level (the super smarties often have problems socially at a young age.) At certain points I was "concerned" the older one wasn't physical enough and other times we thought the little one didn't talk enough. It all shakes out in the end, beware of ideas and people that want to label kids based on blanket generalizations. As long as they hit those milestones within a reasonable range, late or early it's all good!

I know you have already received a ton of responses, but this is completely BS! My youngest was a 'late walker' and while I love her dearly she's not nesc academically ahead of everyone else. Quite frankly, she struggles...she's in 3rd grade. :)
I'd ask her for a link on this supposed study. I hate 'friends' like this and always enjoy calling them out so everyone else can see how they are too! lol
N.

Wives tale. 100%

I know PG (profoundly gifted) kids who were early walkers, and those who were late walkers.

I know gifted kids who were early walkers, and those who were late walkers.

Ditto 2e, challenged, slow, & disabled.

As far as PRESCHOOL testing, sheesh. Not even going there.

Correlation is not Causality.

I don't know the answer to your question but I just wanted to say that sort of conversation would tick me off. Why do moms need to be so competitive with each other? Sounds like this mother was puffing out her chest boosting about her children. Of course, we all think our children are brilliant, beautiful and gifted in their own way. No need to aim your conversation in such a way that could potentially belittle or offend the very people we call friends. Geez! Just a pet peeve of mine!!

But finally, I would love to read any research that can back up her claim rather than the random spouting off of so-called findings.

My son started walking at 14 months. He was born weighing 9 lbs 1 1/2 oz. At 1 yr old he weighed 25 lbs. I figured since he weighed that much he needed to get a little stronger to support his weight and it took him a little longer to get there. He's 11 yrs old now. Gifted, straight A's, reads at a 12th grade level, tallest in his class, black belt in taekwondo, and his teachers and everyone at school tells me what a witty sense of humor he has and how proud I should be of him (we are very proud of him). I'm not sure I would equate when they begin walking with how bright they turn out to be. I'm sure there must be a lot of factors of nature, nurture, nutrition, environment and just plain luck. We've certainly been very lucky so far.

Anecdotal evidence does not equal universal truth.

I'm an educational psychologist with a PhD. Your friend is ridiculous and shame on her for making you question your own child's intelligence.

Oh good grief, don't get pulled into any of that kind of talk. Our daughter and my husband walked at 6 months.. no kidding Never crawled..Our daughter was speaking in sentences by 10 months. Daughter has always been smart, creative.. blah, blah.. now in an Ivy league college..

I remember relatives freaking out, because I made her walk! I had nothing to do with it. She lifted her head to look at me when I said her name out loud for the first time in the delivery room! I knew we were in for the ride of our lives..

Let kids progress on their own time.
When people tell me that stuff, I just say, "Oh really".

My son walked at nine months and his full scale IQ is 134. If that makes him less smart, so be it, LOL. Perhaps your friend (AKA Mother of Smarter Kids... still can't help LOL) should spend some of her infinite wisdom investigating wives' tales.

Or perhaps she can produce the studies she likes to quote?

Buahahaha... ahem. Seriously, she needs to step back and check her insecurities at the door.

Having an early walker myself-last baby, only girl, walked, ran and jumped at 8 months, somersaults at 11 months:) I too, have been told this by one of my "friends". I am not giving it too much weight and you shouldn't either.

It is, what it is. They are who they are. I don't really understand the point in this kind of talk...it's not like we as the moms have the option of choosing when our babies crawl/scoot/walk. This is something they work out for themselves, in their own time.

If studies were done, have her cite her sources, otherwise she is FOS. If this were my friend, her credibility would be seriously damaged.
And what's the big deal about having smart kids? I teach special ed. and I would take many of my students over some smart kids any day. We've got to get over the idea that smart is better. There is room in this world for us all, thank you very much.
If your kids are well loved and accepted, they'll succeed.

Sorry - my experience doesn't concur. I would have loved to have late walkers, as that would have made my life easier, but I don't think walking age has any more to do with academics than early teeth. My son started walking at 11 1/2 months, and has an above average IQ and has been identified as academically gifted. My daughter started walking at 8 1/2 months and from what I can tell of her at this point, she may be set to outpace her brother, but in different subject matters. In first grade, she's ahead of grade level in reading and math... but a much better rounded person as she's also always been extremely well-coordinated and more sports-inclined than my son. We all look for those markers to explain or predict certain things, but I think each kid will be what they will be, regardless of when they walk.

I think people can find whatever evidence they want to back up what they *want* the Truth to be... Your "friend" sounds really insecure. So insecure that she implied that your child might be less intelligent... how sad.

I've heard this, too. Not sure if there's anything to it, though, or if it's just a way for parents of late walkers to avoid getting an inferiority complex (of COURSE your friend's kids were late walkers, that makes them smarter!). I took my first steps at 7mos and was fully walking at 9mos, so I was a very early walker. All 3 of my kids walked around 12 mos. I'm a genius, but my kids...not so much...no, just kidding. I consider myself somewhat intelligent, school was always very easy for me and I was one year ahead (youngest in my class). My son has autism, so there are issues there, but even with autism, he's in a regular class and on the honor roll. My girls are both doing very well academically, I'm not worried about them at all. If I were you, this is not an issue I'd worry about AT ALL. Raising kids is difficult enough, late walkers vs early walkers is a non-issue in my opinion.

My daughter walked at 9 months and at 3 years is learning to read. I think your friend just wants her kids to be smarter than yours and is trying to make you feel bad so she doesn't have to be insecure about her kids intelligence.
Pity her!

I have never heard this before so I did a quick google... check these out...

http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Development/Ask-Dr-...

http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4508,00.html

I am a teacher and I have read before that SOMETIMES kids who skip a milestone (like crawling) SOMETIMES have a more difficult time learning to read and reaching other milestones. But I have never read research to support that topic. Please don't listen to people who think they know everything. Listen to people who have actually read research!

I also think your friend was in poor taste with her comments. She was obviously letting you know HER children are smarter therefore better. Maybe its time to hang out with some more laid back Mommies who don't compete. :-)

I have heard it but I don't buy into an "all kids" deal with it. Maybe related in some obscure way. MY daughter that walked before a year is an honors student in a special class for upper level learning. As is her brother, who didn;t start coasting until he was a year and walked at about 18 months on his own. If there is a direct correlation, I cannot imagine how much smarter my 2 yr old would be. She walked at 10 months. She can figure out how to do anything very quickly and responds to us in a way that makes us do a double take at her--we would be in real trouble if she was any smarter than she is.

There is a correlation between not crawling and later diagnoses of certain learning disabilities, like dyslexia. However, the relationship has never proven to be _causal_; in other words, forcing your child to crawl when they would rather "scoot" does not definately prevent a later diagnosis. There is some thought that the coordination between the right and left sides of the brain helps with reading, but again, they don't know. Either way, I don't think that anyone would attribute this to overall "smartness," just certain skills that are measured in school (I don't know any links between crawling and mathematical abilities, although they might be out there). Either way, I wouldn't put too much stock in things like this. There is a statistical difference, but there's no promise that her late walkers are all going to be Einsteins : )

Just day: "Hmmmm, I was reading Dr. Spock the other day and he says in all the research he's done, there was no correlation between intellect and early vs late walking. Where are you getting your data?"
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4508,00.html

Anecdotally, my DD walked at 18 mos and has been tested 'average' for intelligence. HTH.

From what I've seen, that's not the case. My niece was walking at 8.5 months old, and was a very very early talker. She's 13, a straight A student as well as an exceptional athlete. Her younger sister and brother (triplets) all walked by the time they were 10 months old, and again, are all A students. All four of them also are leaders in their classes, great problem solvers and highly creative & sensitive.

I have 3 children, 12 yr old boy, 11 yr old boy and 2 yr old girl. My oldest walked after his 1st birthday, my middle son at 9 months and my daughter at 10 months. Both of my boys are in Honor's Classes. My middle son, the early walker even skipped a grade. My daughter has an extreme vocobulary for her age. BTW-they were all breastfed, which studies consistantly show kids that are bf are smarter than those who aren't. Hope this helps :)

Both of my girls started walking at 9 months, jumping around 14 months, running at 12 months, etc. They are the brightest kids you'll ever know (I'm bias, but you know...) One is 9 and a staight A student, and the other is 2 and knows her alphabet, numbers, all of her shapes (including semi-circle, octagon, etc.), speaks in paragraphs, and is still just was active as always! So, don't put any stock into this. It really depends on the child.

Sounds like BS to me. My kids both walked at 12 months. I had a "friend" ask me what was wrong with them walking so "late" - she felt that all babies start to walk at 9 months! As I understood it from my ped, the "normal" range for walking is between 8 months and 18 months.

Probably an old wives tale. My kids walked at 11 mos. and are now a teen and pre-teen, and are as smart as can be, straight A students.

Your friend is sooooo mistaken. Someone probably told her that sometime to make her feel better about her kids walking late.

All 4 of my kids were early walkers (8-10 months). Three of them are in the gifted program at school - only reason my 4th isn't is because she's 11 months old. Now, I have heard that kids that are learning one skill, usually don't learn the other at the same time. For example, if a baby is walking at 9 months, she probably isn't learning to say words at the same time. If a baby is saying more than mama or dada at age 9 months, she won't be walking at that time, too. I don't know if that's true or not - seems to make sense. Either way, kids who walk early/late....or talk early/late...it makes no difference in their IQ. You wouldn't be able to tell at all by even kindergarten. I also heard the "your child needs to learn to crawl" stuff. It made me nervous, because my first was an early walker and hardly crawled at all. He is unbelievably talented in school, art and sports. I'm not just saying that cuz he's my kid!!! LOL!

Don't listen to your friends - your mother in law - your mother - do what you feel is right for you and your child - every situation and child is different - enjoy

I don't buy into any of that mumbo jumbo. Saying that, my son never did more than an army man crawl - never got up on his knees. He didn't walk until about 15 months. My son does have a high IQ. My grandmother always said that babies that don't crawl have more of a chance of being dyslexic - my son is dyslexic. I crawled and I am mildly dyslexic. I think it all depends on the genes!

My oldest walked at 10mos, and he's in the gifted ed program at his school. I think kids smarts are genetic, and every child learns differently, regardless of when they walked.

I say it's a bunch of hogwash. I walked very early......8 months 3 weeks. I was always at the top of my class, performed exceptionally well in school and have a high IQ to this day. I'm 36. Every individual is different. Some parents will find any reason to prove their child is smart or smarter than your child. In my opinion this is just another "reason."

I think she's giving you a line... I have three kids. The first was average, walked at 11 months. the second and third were early with everything, including walking at 8 months. The first child had a little trouble academically, she had to work hard to earn her A's and B's. The two early walkers, are both straight A students, they are self motivated. i don't ever have to push them to start their home work and they were both recommended for the GATE (gifted and talented education) program. Kids are not the same in every development of their life and we shouldn't expect them to be. Some will excel in certain areas and others will excel in other areas. Try not to compete with developmental skills. Crawling is important for right brain/left brain development, however, how long they crawl means nothing. Hope that helps!

I think your friend was feeling inadequate when her children were late walkers and had to 'explain it away' to try and make herself feel better.

I think people can "find" evidence to support any theory... and I'm sure if another study was done, there would be some evidence to support early walkers are "smarter." My son was walking at 8 months, and he's way too smart for his own good... LOL. Next time your friend wants to enlighten you to some "evidence" supporting how brilliant all of her children are going to be, just smile and nod politely and don't take too much to heart. I also think it's kind of catty of her to make this remark... I'm just saying.

I think that she is looking for a way to brag about her kids being smart.

My daughter was a very late walker - starting to walk around the same time I did - 16 months! My mother thinks I am a genius, and I think mine is a genius!
tee hee....

My little one and I were very precocious and clear talkers - we both started verbally communicating around 13 months - so that might explain what our brains were busy with around that time. My sister walked way earlier and talked much later than me, and my Mom thinks she may be a bigger genius than me...so, there you go. :))

Every brain develops differently. It may be erroneous to compare and contrast and then make predictions when the comparisons are between individual children, all of whose brains are completely unique.

I recently saw an article (probably the same one Jane mentioned) that related incidence of dyslexia or other learning issues with early walking. It did not say walking early meant the children were less smart! Your friend may have read (or heard from another person who heard...etc) and misunderstood what the article stated.
I don't think that early walking is indicative of much long term. Perhaps the less time they spend crawling, the fewer of certain synapse connections are formed or something.. but who knows? My niece walked late.. but she NEVER crawled at all- she scooted. So how does THAT factor in?! lol
FWIW, my early walking son (10 1/2 months) is a B student who is very intelligent.
My daughter (also "early-ish"walker - 10 3/4 months) is straight A and in gifted.
I think some people just are looking for something to "hang their hat on" as far as believing that their kids are normal or "smart" and they look for these little 'articles' or 'reports' as a way to validate the rate their kids are learning new skills. I think all parents do this to some degree, especially when the kids are very young. They want to believe that since they did "X" later than some other kids, that it is a "good" thing! Putting a positive spin on it.

I wouldn't put any stock into what your friend told you as it relates to your early walking son. Even if there is a correlation (not causation) between the two, SO WHAT? How is that going to change your son or how you see him? You will still do whatever is appropriate for him to learn, whatever that might (or might not) be. I would just completely ignore the comment. That's probably the only reason it was made... an interesting "aside" for an interesting conversation and nothing more.

Sounds to me like she found some info somewhere that went along with how here kids were and they should have a very positive outcome because of it. Just a way to make her feel good and make you worry. I would take it with a grain of salt.

Both of my girls were early walkers. They are both still very young so only time will tell but one is clearly brighter than the other.
I have a very close friend who's son didn't walk until 2 and barely spoke until he turned 3. She was surprisingly calm about his late development. I never heard her say that she was concerned at all. Turns out she didn't have anything to worry about... he's 7 now and on the path to genius. I'm not saying this supports your friend. It's just one child, but interesting.

I am enjoying this discussion.

I am a Special Education Teacher, an occupational therapy student, and a mommy. I think everyone has hit on some truths. The take away point is that crawling is important. Being a parent can be scary. We want to make sure we are doing our best to help our children grow up well. If your child is not achieving milestones on time, you are not alone. Search for early intervention and your state to get all the resources your family is entitled to by law. Usually, the earlier you act, the better the outcome. :)

Here is some of the science behind crawling.
Crawling is an important developmental milestone for many reasons. In order for a child to crawl they have to stop other reflexes that used to be helpful (lifting head up when on belly called the Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR) and reaching out the arms/bending legs aka Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR)). However, to start crawling with the right arm/left foot and left arm/right foot these reflexes need to be inhibited. Persistance of these primary reflexes can indicate a potential developmental problem. Remember the fencing position our babies did while on their backs. They put one hand stretched to the side and the other bent at the elbow. If this reflex (atnr) is still present past 6 months be sure to contact your doctor asap to get help.

Crawling helps develop binocular vision, strengthens the core muscles (back and abs), strengthens the hands/arms/shoulders -great for gross and fine motor of the upper limbs, and crossing the midline/using different sides of the body at the same time. Since each side is controlled by the opposite hemisphere of the brain when you child uses both of these sides at the same time they are strengthening the connection between each side (corpus callosum). Also crawling helps lateralization (specializing of one brain hemisphere) which has been linked to better ability to read/write etc.

As far as intelligence is concerned, one factor is genetics. There has been no solid research on how much this matters, but it does show that it has something to do with it. I am gifted and my husband is average/above average intelligence so my daughter has good chances to inherit these genes from us. However, our environment and what we do as parents plays a big role too. To help develop his or her intelligence, do the following. Play with your child and give opportunities to use all of their senses. Talk with your child and read to them. Preschool teachers usually suggest at least 20 minutes of reading a day. (Just try your best to reach this goal, even just one book is better than nothing.) You do NOT need to spend hundreds of dollars on programs like Your Baby can read. Instead focus on these things which are many times free. :) If you want your child to know more than one language, concentrate on teaching him or her in the first five years as this is the best window for learning a language. You can learn a language at any age but it is easiest then. Even if you are not bilingual use a friend, youtube, or maybe try a bilingual playgroup.

My daughter walked the day after she turned nine months old. Never crawled, basically in a week went from being happy sitting up to pulling herself up to walking (and I mean walking!). She also was reading Dr. Seuss style books before she turned five, and her reading and math levels have always been a grade or two above her age's average. I think if you do a google for "early walkers are smarter" you will probably get the same number of results as "late walkers are smarter."

Children, and their smartness or not, get a LOT from their environment, how rich it is, how much they have conversations with the adults in their lives, etc. Boys often "tend" to be earlier walkers because boys genetically excel with large muscle activities before girls. This does not mean boys are smarter than girls.

Well, I walked at nine months, and I was in the gifted program at school.

I don't believe this at all. My oldest walked the week of her first birthday and has had speech and learning difficulties in school. My second child walked at 10mo, started speaking four word sentences by 14mo. My third child started walking at 9mo and is now 13mo and hasn't started talking. My point is children are all different and develop differently. From what I heard it is vital babies learn to crawl and not skip crawling and go straight to walking. One activity is left brain dominated and the other is right brain dominated. By experiencing both the brain halves come together and function better.

I think it's ridiculous . I walked at 9 months which is early
and I just graduated college magna sum laude with a 3.9 gpa.
I also skipped a grade in school and was recommended to
skip two but my mom didn't think it was a good idea. So no I dont think it has to do with anything.

My mother said I walked the day I turned 8 months, I have tested at a high intelligence level. My kids all walked at 9 months and they've all shown signs of high intelligence--advanced classes at school, the two graduates graduated in the top 25 students one graduated 8th in her class, both graduated with several college credits. Both girls have gone on to college one degree in Chemistry and one will get her masters this spring with a 4.0 GPA. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Hello, Our kids (all grown now) all walked at 10 months, except our son who had to use the Dennis Brown shoe splint for foot corrections. He walked at 11 months. Our sons are both very intelligent, but have learning disabilities. It doesn't stop them from working hard and doing well. Our daughters are also very intelligent without learning disabilities. Our oldest grandson didn't ever crawl before walking, (scooted around on his bottom) and didn't walk until he was 13 months old. He is 14 now and in all excelled classes getting almost straight A's, good citizen and always has a girlfriend (he is way too cute). Our other two grandsons in CA walked at 10 months. The 11 year old tested into the G.A.T.E. program (gifted) and the 7 year old may be smarter than the other two. Our little grandaughter is 18 months old and due to having Down's Syndrome she is still not walking. However, she is right on track with a "normal" baby in her cognitive thinking, and several months ahead in her social skills. Go and figure. I think it just comes down to each child and walking doesn't have anything to do with their cognitive abilities.
Good luck with your precious family.
K. K.

I have both and this sounds like a theory to me. One of my early walkers works a grade above her level in all subjects. I doubt she's the exception. Sometimes we have to just let our friends reassure themselves with the things that they need.

My daughter was an early walker, and is now 30 with 3 masters degrees, a great job, and great social skills. Don't worry about what your friend said.

My children walked at 9 months and 7 1/2 months. The 9 month walker has a genius IQ and the 7 1/2 month walker has borderline genius IQ. They are both twenty-something now and have done very well for themselves. 'Nuff said?

I have heard this too. I have to say, out of my 3 kids-the smartest one is the late walker. He was also the late crawler, the least social, and he's a bit quirky. No one has it all. any mom that says to you-true or not-doesn't sound very nice. PLEASE! Who cares how long a kid crawls, or if they are less smart. You still love them.

Nope, no research whatsoever to back that up. There is no correlation AT ALL to the age a baby begins walking, or the duration of crawling, and academic success. Furthermore, I'd like to know which study she's citing when she says more neurological activity is being exercised? Um, I don't think so...;)

all babies are diffrent my now 3 year did not walk till about 15 months she is very smart but i dont beleave its just because she start walking later i turely belive its how hands on u are with ur kids. but there r studys out there sbout it.

My son walked at 9 1/2 months. He spoke very early as well. He is now in 9th grade and is extremely intelligent and is a straight A student (in both public and homeschool settings). By the way, he is also well liked by both adults and peers, so theres no weird social issues going on there.
Based on my experience, I would have to disagree.

My son is late at everything. We went to an occupational therapist for an evaluation when he was 10 months old when he was just barely crawling. She said to keep him crawling for as long as possible because it helps with fine motor skills(not sure how) ,she said nothing about intelligence. She did say that helps with handwrighting and other things down the road ( cant remember what else).

Wow interesting. I have never heard anything about this. Thanks for putting it on my radar. But I will tell you, I was an early walker (11 mos.), early at everything, teeth, talking, knowing my ABC's etc. But I struggled in school! It started in about 2nd grade. I did well in college, but man I had a hard time in everything before that! I have twins who were later walkers and are 6 and in Kindergarten, they are doing wonderfully. They have a late birthday so they are older kindergartners. My baby is almost 3 and while I think he is doing more (academically) than my boys were at this age, he was an early walker. So this will be interesting to watch.

I might be biased because I have two early walkers but I would have to disagree with that. Both of my kids were early talkers as well. My daughter started reading (very basic sight word books) at 4. My two year old shocks me (in a good way) with the phrases that come out of his mouth. He speaks using full sentences and is super bright. Both of my kids are adventurous, love climbing and traveling. I just thought they were both eager to explore the world, hence the early walking. The only thing that I have noticed about my early walkers is that they are incredibly clumsy! Honestly, I haven’t read any studies on this matter so I can only base my opinion on my 2 little ones.

I think your friend is feeling insecure about having late walkers.

ehh I wouldn't worry about it. People have all sorts of opinions and supposed founded research to back it on so many things regarding children. I'd like to think it true since my daughter was a late walker...but personally I don't put a lot of stock in statements like that.

I think its because all her kids were late walkers, lol. Just saying! My 3 yr old son started walking at 9 months and is advanced at everything he does... If the comments were true, and crawling makes you more intelligent, then why arent all of us still crawling?

People say some crazy things. I have an early walker (10 mos) and a late walker (13-14 mos) and both seem pretty smart to me!

I'm not sure what late vs early is really considered. I do know that babies can only work on one thing at a time - either walking or talking. My children both walked around 11 months, didn't talk until well after 2 years and both are quite bright. So I'm not sure what to make of those studies.

No, I don't think so. I don't know that there's a direct correlation one way or the other, but I can tell you that it's not true in our case. My son started walking at 9 months and could have passed the school assessment tests as a 3 year old.

L.,

I work for early intervention - the agency that provides services to kids with developmental delays. All kids are different. They crawl, walk and talk all in their own good time. There are so many things that go into whether or not a child will do well academically. Rather than worry about how much your child crawled or when they started walking, invest that time into taking to your kids, interacting with them and reading to them. The time you invest into them will matter way more in the future than how much time they spent crawling.

The problem with a lot of "research" like what your friend is quoting (assuming it exists) is that it is based on what is called correlational data. The best way to explain it is this: Let's say 98 percent of people who have a fatal heart attack have showered within the 4 days preceeding their fatal heart attack. Wow. Does that mean we should stop showering because showering causes heart attacks? No. Just because showering and heart attacks tend to happen within days of each other doesn't mean that showering causes heart attacks..... Correlation does not equal causation. Just because they happen together doesn't mean one cases the other.

Basically I think your friend is nuts... LOL

:-)T.

Prior to ever walking my daughter took interest in speech at just 6 weeks old. Her little eyes watched your lips and her little lips would move too. At the same time she began emulating sounds when you spoke to her. She has always been a watcher.

She walked at exactly 10 months old.

When she entered preschool at 19 months, the teacher told me she was very smart.

She is now 4 years old and has a great vocabulary, knows her alphabet, works on adding skills, helps out with 1,000 piece jig-saw puzzles, knows the months in the year, days of week, and works on sounding out letters. Not sure where that would place her on the smart chart, but these studies sound like student surveys & stats. Ask who conducted the study.

I can't answer this. I have twin late walkers - neither delayed or super-geniuses. Anyway, I heard from a speaker state that you shouldn't try to hurry up and encourage your kids to walk any earlier than they need to because something (?) is developing because they are using their hands/palms so much during the crawling. This was like a therapist or someone in a related field. I also heard another person (a day care director?) mention the same thing.

To me, I think its really had to prove or disprove. Everyone has such different upbringings. You can't really tell how kids were wired from the beginning and how their environment has changed them.

LOL sure hope not as mine walked at 10 mo. and she just learned to crawl two days ago! i am in teaching and i have heard a school of thought that thinks that children that crawl longer will be better at writing, the physical aspect not cognitive, bc crawling requires pressure on hands/fingers and that will help with the grasp of the writing instruments, it has nothing to do with cognitive so dont worry. a late walker will not be as messy writing so is that really a big deal? oh and to help with physical aspects of writing all you need to do is to encourage children to do things that will strengthen their hands such as play with playdough: making it into a ball and then flat again. that is actually some of the things that the PT will do with children that have trouble writing. no worries about this, we have enough to worry about as moms!!

I've not heard the argument that late walkers are smarter.

I have heard from our pediatrician that kids who skip crawling tend to have a different muscle tone (which may not be ideal) because they don't develop the same muscles that crawling does.

Our kids are both pretty darn smart - one was an earlier crawler (10.5 months), one was a little later (12 months).

My guess is there is no proven correlation - just someone wanting to feel better that her kids did things a little differently.

Growing up 2 of my 6 siblings went through crawling therapy to help with their reading problems. The specialist explained that a certain amount of crawling really helps develop the hand, eye, brain connection. I don't know about the being smarter part, but I do know from personal experience that those of us who did crawl longer, didn't have any problems with reading comprehension and/or dyslexia.

I have heard this. I did a search a while back online and found something regarding it. Wish I would have saved it so I could forward it.

Hi L.,
Your friend just has the facts mixed up. Crawling is good for development, but doing so longer does not make a baby *smarter.* There's a difference.

t

my daughter was 2months preemie and started walking at 16 months. She is now 18 months. Being a girl, I expected her to start walking earlier than one year, but then I read about how crawling DOES lead to smarter children, so I didnt rush anything. Still concerned on her late progress, I brought it up to her developmental specialist and she too explained that crawling as long as possible is a good thing, that even though your child is walking, you should encourage crawling activites (tunnels, etc.) because it works the left and right side of the brain. My daughter has a 96% head circumference and a 3% weight average...I'm hoping she's just gonna be one smart cookie!

To be honest I have never heard of this! It sounds silly to me. So far I have two early walking daughters and they have no problems and are advanced slightly above their milestone ages. They both love and excel in school! They were early crawlers too. I have heard something about children who don't crawl before they walk and that it can cause problems for them later, but I don't know why.

My husband was an early walker, and I was a late walker. So of course late walkers are smarter :-)))))

But seriously, there is some truth in what she said. Crawling is good for developing some skills later in life, I was told by a sensory skills expert. It is not related to academic achievement though, but to motor skills (such as using the hands).
I also found this scientific research online:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2038537

I encouraged my son to crawl a lot but he only scooted and started walking around the age of 1. I am sure he'll be just fine... :-) (judging from how my husband turned out, we both have PhDs :-)))

Well even if it is a statistic that is accurate. It doesn't mean that a late walker is automatically smart and an early walker is less. It means that this correlation happens more than it does not. That is it. I wouldn't give it another thought. Just a "well its a good thing my kid doesn't know that or they just might beleive it. I'll let my kid be what they want to be."

I have heard that. I had one of each. I dont think it means the early walkers are stupid, but maybe the late walkers have developed more motor skills, etc. I wouldnt worry about it. You can ask your ped or google it and im sure you will find a ton of info about it.

I have heard that babies who spend more time crawling have better motor skills and there is some correlation between that and being better readers. As for early walkers having more academic difficulties I don't know, but I find that hard to believe! I'm sure there are plenty of early walkers getting straight A's out there! My son did not walk until he was 18 months, and my daughter walked at 16 months...they're in kindergarten and preschool now, so it remains to be seen if the late walking means they'll be extra scholarly! They did both talk very early - 9 and 10 months (seriously!) so who knows if there is anything too that. Sounds like your friend might be a bit full of herself? I'm sure she wouldn't be pushing this "study" if her children walked earlier, so I wouldn't sweat it!

If you want to know the answer, you need to conduct a search in Medline or Google Scholar (not a regular Google search) and read science. You will be surprised what the asnwer is.

I'm a mothe rof three very smart children. Two girls and one boy. Both girls starting walking early before 12 months old. Oldest is 9 and in fourth grade barely passing even with a tutor, extra help from teacher and myself and husband. My son is in the middle he didn't start walking until he was 18 months old, starts Kindergarten in Sept and is reading on a first grade lvl. Youngest daughter just turned three started skeaking in full sentences before the age of two and is learning how to read. She can recognize over 250 words. BTY never bought the My baby can Read program. ope this helps.

i think it makes her feel better to have this theory..but then again i have not researched it..i was an early walker and did very well in school..my son is an early walker and is very bright.

I haven't heard this, but out of my 4 kids I have one late walker. He didn't walk until around 14mo. Not taking anything away from my other kids who I think are very bright, he is VERY intelligent. Something to think about. . .

I study child development and psychology and I can tell you that there has ben massive amounts of research on this topic and that while of course there are exceptions to the rule, there is a very high correlation between crawling longer and intellect. Do not forget intellect does not guarantee your child will do well at school...i became interested in this when mum said I didn't walk until 17 months. Proper testing puts my IQ at 153 however I was lazy in high school and skipped classes so only graduated in the top 10%. My point is that yes legitimate studies strongly indicate late walkers are more intellectual but this doesn't necessarily translate to academic success...something that is clearly confused here. I can also tell you I have studied many exceptions to this rule but my professional opinion remains to not under any circumstances encourage your child to walk if they are not ready. Your ped will confirm this. Please note many other factors contribute to intellectual development such as reading to your child engaging them in conversation and limiting time spent watching tv as much as possible.

It's not that they are smarter, per se, it's that there is a neurological patterning that occurs when one arm and the opposite leg comes forward and vice versa. It stimulates both cerebral hemispheres more and causes more neurological connections. You can research "Cross Crawl". My kids all walked when they were ready, but I never encouraged them by holding their hands and forcing them to walk. They needed to do it on their own. I had friends that were like, "Look, they're 9 months old and starting to walk!" I have personally seen differences with my friend and families with the ones who pushed it a bit and others who encouraged crawling more.

I had a friend in grad school who was (40 years old) failing miserably. One of the docs in the hallways walked by him, saw that his arms didn't swing and his head was stationary when he walked...and commented that he never crawled as a baby and he needed to get that confirmed with his mom....and that his grades were probably suffering. He was shocked. He actually called his mom who confirmed that....he went striaght to walking. This doc had him crawl on the ground for an hour a day for over a month and no lie, this guy went from D's and F's to B's.

Then a few years later, I had a friend who's son (16 year old) was struggling in school and was being tutored, etc. I asked her about how long he crawled, she told me never did....in a very proud voice. I made mention of this and he started to crawl everyday. Within a month, his grades soared from straight F's to straight A's and he graduated 2 years later at the top of his class.

I can tell you that 2 of my kids crawled for approximately 6 months before they walked, so I'm not sure about it being strictly a late walker thing, but the more crawling they get in the better. My second child only crawled for about 2 months, he's almost 4 and we have difficulty understanding him....he runs his words all together. It's like his brain just pushes everything out without fully processing it. The other two - even my 23 months old daughter is clear as bell and enunciates everything. Is that strictly related to crawling? No research study can tell me, but I can tell you, they were ALL fed the same thing in utero, birthed exactly the same way without drugs, and raised exactly the same way, so as far as taking out variables - that's about the only thing I can tell you.

My dad walked at 9 months old and is 63 and struggles with dyslexia. A connection? No one will ever fully know.

Hi, I have always heard that kids who walk before age 1 tend to have more reading difficulties. I have no idea as to the validity of this. My sister definately believes it as her 2 sons walked before age 1 and have some issues (B-C students) while her daughter walked at 14 months and is #3 in a class of over 700 seniors. Who knows???