What I didn’t know: We need to move to develop our brain. Kids start off crawling, which forces the two sides of the brain to work together. For the left leg to move forward synchronously with the right arm and for the same pattern to occur when the right leg and left arm move, requires that the time and space recording in both sides of the brain be in phase, be integrated. Learning to walk, this integration becomes even better: two arms swinging as pendulums counterbalancing the movement of the legs and setting the rhythmic pace for the total movement pattern. Then we learn to run, to balance, to play hopskotch, …….

Successful integration between the two sides of the brain is necessary for improving all brain processes, including those for reading, writing, academic achievement, motor skill development, and many others.

In effect, wheelchair bound children have problems developing – amongst others – spatial skills. Quote “Spatial research in this area has been conducted at the University of Leicester over many years, showing, for example, that when disabled and able-bodies pupils are asked to make directional pointing judgements about landmarks on their school campus, the able-bodied pupils do this with much greater accuracy [1]. This may be because reliance on others for spatial displacements deprives them of the autonomous spatial exploration necessary to develop accurate “cognitive maps” of their surroundings. This has implications for their general intellectual development, personal safety, and confidence in approaching new situations.

London cab drivers are required to have a complete map of the inner city in their heads, they have rigorous examinations that take 3 or 3 years to prepare for. A curious scientist MRI’d their brains and found out that their hippocampuses are bigger than those of ordinary people. So!