Is physical ability related to intelligence?

[Aussie_Chik]

Here's a question to you mums of older kids. Does physical developement corelate with intelligence?

Tommy is the last to do everything at Mothers Group and yes I know "they're all different", I'm accepting of it and have come to terms with it now. But I was wondering whether this is any indication of future intelligence. i.e will a a baby who is able to reach milestones early be more intelligent than one who is delayed.

[Custardtart]

When you say 'reaching milestones' are you talking about purely physical ability, or alertness and responsiveness as well? If your concerns are mostly about physical development, I'd say not to worry - generally speaking, boys (particularly) can lag way behind in physical and social development in the first few years and then all of a sudden have a series of developmental steps and catch right up.

I know Tommy is only a baby, but I have seen this regularly with my friends children from the ages of 0-7, some of the boys will really seem to be not quite as 'with it' as other children their age, then once they hit 6 or 7 they have a huge catch-up physically, socially and emotionally.

My girls have always been ahead of the pack in development, and now I have a strong little baby boy, and I fully expect him to be one of the slower ones to work through co-ordination and abilities, purely because this is what I have seen with my friends babies. I don't think it's any indication of mental ability or intelligence.

Kerrie

[Aussie_Chik]

Without sounding horrible he was or still is pretty much behind on everything, from sleeping through the night to rolling, to babbling, sitting, crawling all those biggies!!!

Our group is mostly boys so I'm comparing him to them. I was mainly wondering whether it is an indicator of whether he will always be "behind" or is this not necessarily a good indication?

[~Jo~]

I guess its always in our nature to compare our children to others despite the fact that all children develop at different paces. My two eldest girls developed at what seemed to be exactly the same pace as each other..ie their babbling, rolling, sitting, crawling, walking. I got the shock of my life when my youngest daughter was so different. She started crawling at 12 months and didnt walk til 17 months. I had the same concerns as you..needlessly i should add. She was just herself and developed at her own pace. Olivia is exceptionally bright..overlapping my 9 year old daughter in all areas of cognitive learning...so i just think she was taking her time and taking it all in. Please dont worry unnecessarily. Im sure your gorgeous little boy is perfectly fine.

Jo

[Tanya]

I have heard many old wives tales about such things. My Eldest was very forward... Now she is 13 and she is about average I think she excels at art tho... hates sport! lol

My second was not quite as forward as my first, but way behind in the talking dept! Not that she is a bad speaker, my first was speaking short sentences at 12 months.

The way I see it is that while Tom, and other babies like him may not be coming in leaps and bounds in thier physical development (well not compared to the other babies), they are developing in other ways. They are observing their surroundings, they are quiet and therefore thinking more clearly... (this is seriously what I think).
While the babies that are getting around earlier, this is what they want to do... babies like yours don't want to get around just yet... they are busy doing other things. Maybe it's a great sign for patients.... O

Tanya

[Tracey]

I know my oldest was quick to do new things too, rolling over & over again at about 13wks, we could not stop her, she was sitting by herself way before any of my friends kids, she was also walking by 10months & talking clearsentences too by 1 year, she could write her name & numbers in 3yr old kinder etc, etcx... But cant catch a ball really well, took her til she was 5 to learn how to ride a bike & that was only sheer determination after she'd gone to a friends house after school & her 3 yr old brother was riding around!!!
she is getting better at sport things, like skipping etc... But compared to others this is where she was lacking...
My niece could ride her bike without training wheels at 2.5 yrs (2nd child), but even now at age 5, I find it difficult to understand her conversationally, but I am used to Maddy...
Another niece was contented to sit in the one spot playing with whatever was within reach & not crawl or roll or anything to try & get it until she was almost 18months!!! She could crawl & roll, just sat wherever she was put down, the more we'd encourage her to get the toy, she'd just ignore it & play with her hair, or fingers, she simply didn't care, she took her first steps about 3 wks after her 2nd b'day & is now almost 4 & perfectly normal...
Each & every child is different & develops differently...

[Aussie_Chik]

Thanks Mums, your comments have eased my mind considerably.

I think Tommy is definately the kind of baby who just likes to take things in, whenever he is put in a new environment he is very quiet and hardly moves at all. I guess this is his way of learning about things whereas other babies might explore.

I am truely thankful I have a happy and healthy baby I'm just a mum, like all of us, who will always worry I guess. #-o

[Debbie Lee]

Aussie_Chik - I would say definitely not - from a teacher's POV anyway. I have found that children vary dramatically! One might be completely unco when out doing Phys Ed, yet is in the top group for mathematics. I've also seen children that can ace a maths quiz AND play every sport under the sun, but couldn't write a story or draw a picture to save their lives.
There are many levels of intelligence. Here in Victoria (and probably the other states too), a lot of our teaching in Primary School is based around Howard Gardner's theories of Multiple Intelligences - if you Google it, you will find stacks of information.
Here's some that I found:

Gardner points out that every student has at least one dominant intelligence although he or she may have more than one. These intelligences can be nurtured, strengthened and taught over time. The intelligences do not exist in isolation but interface and interact with one another when completing a task, and the intelligences provide teachers with eight different ways to approach the curriculum. Gardner has identified and described eight major intelligences.
Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner developed his theory of Mt in the early 1980's. Each intelligence, he says, is modifiable and is sparked and activated by a variety of stimuli. The intelligences relate directly to whatever information; or content is being dealt with. They are content based, not content free. Gardner believed that virtually everyone has the capacity to develop all eight of the Ml and that intelligence's usually work together and interact with one another in complex ways. Most of the time when solving a problem, creating a product or interacting with the environment more than one intelligence is used.

The eight intelligences and some classroom applications are outlined below:

Verbal/Linguistic
The ability to use language, both written and spoken.

Visual/Spatial
The ability to form mental images

Logical/Mathematical
The ability to reason inductively and deductively, and to recognize patterns and connections.

Musical/Rhythmic
The ability to recognize and use rhythmic and tonal patterns.

Bodily/Kinesthetic
The ability to use body to express emotions and thoughts and to solve problems.

Interpersonal
The ability to work cooperatively, to communicate with others

Intrapersonal
The ability to self reflect, introspect

Naturalist
The ability to understand the ecosystem, the physical world

HTH!!

[Debbie Lee]

Just wanted to add:
Even though this stuff is used for Primary School aged kids, I think it can still be applied to babies. Every one of us is a unique individual - we learn and develop at our own pace.

[Fi]

I've always thought that people cant have it all. You could be gorgeous and dumb, not quite so crash hot and incredibly intelligent, brilliant at sports and thick as anything.
I believe people all have strengths and weaknesses, and as parents I guess its our job to recognise these and develop and encourage the good things and the not so great things?
One boy in my MG is a little slower physically. He's not picking up the crawling thing at all even though he is 9 months, but you should see the kid with toys. He will study something until he can figure out how it works, it is amazing to watch!!! I have a chime rattle, and he didn't just shake it like the other babies - he gently rocked it to hear each individual noise, then would shake it quickly, then go back to slowly doing it.
I swear that kid will be an engineer!!!

I'm sure Tommy will have amazing strengths in one area - perhaps he will be a linguist, and because he hasn't goto to the talking stage yet - you haven't realised his true strengths!!

Fi

[Magic]

My understanding is that there are 7 types of intelligences:
Verbal, Mathematical, Artistic, Mechanical, Musical, Social Skills and Intuitive.

The developmental benchmarks are just that, benchmarks and a child can deviate from the "norm" at any stage of development but still be "normal" IYKWIM. Maybe just keep an eye on him, and if you are concerned take him to a paeditrian (sp) and go from there.

[min]

just to make you feel at ease, I dont think the physical and mental development go entirely hand in hand. my niece was such a lazy baby, just used to lay there under her playmat for hours, no crawling, no rolling nothing. she started to get around by dragging herself around not actually crawling. but from a very young age she displayed that she was a lot more intelectually advanced than other children her age. She is nearly six now, and she is just amazing, so intelligent, she surprises us everyday with how much she knows and how quickly she learns