When you picture “literacy,” you might think of books, storytime, or the alphabet chart on the wall.
The surprising thing is, though...
Reading and writing don’t actually start with letters.
They start with the body.
Two big pieces often get overlooked:
1. Crawling
I know, I know, most people think crawling is just a short stop before walking.
But it’s so much more than that.
Crawling teaches eyes to track smoothly across a page (that’s reading fluency).
It builds posture and core strength (a.k.a. the ability to sit without wiggling every 10 seconds).
It even supports handwriting down the road.
2. Primitive Reflexes
Babies are born with survival reflexes: rooting, startling, the “fencer pose”, to name a few.
Here’s the kicker, though: Primitive reflexes are supposed to fade as kids grow.
When they don’t, we often see:
- Lots of fidgeting
- Trouble with handwriting or copying from the board
- Anxiety or overreaction to stress
So what looks like a “behavior problem” might just be a reflex still hanging around.
Cheering you on,
Stacy
