The overlooked link between body and mind in child development

Understanding the intricate connection between body and mind is at the heart of psychomotricity – a field often overlooked but essential in supporting children’s development. To shed light on what this profession truly involves, RTL Today spoke with Pauline*, a practicing psychomotrician, who shared insights into her daily work, the challenges she faces, and the unique role she plays in helping children grow, move, and thrive.

What does a psychomotrician do?

A psychomotrician is a healthcare professional specialising in the connection between motor skills, cognition, and emotions. They work with people of all ages, from infants to the elderly, to support the prevention, education, and rehabilitation of psychomotor difficulties. Their expertise lies in addressing a range of challenges including motor coordination, sensory processing, cognitive functions, emotional regulation, and social interaction. This holistic approach integrates physical, psychological, and social aspects to promote overall well-being and autonomy in daily life.

Pauline’s* role as a psychomotrician focuses specifically on young children, primarily those aged 5 to 6. She supports their motor and emotional development through carefully designed activities that encourage both fine and global motor skills. The former, she explains, involve precise movements like holding a pencil or writing, and the latter encompasses larger-scale actions such as jumping, balancing, and coordination.

When it comes to emotional development, she helps children manage frustration and intense emotions by teaching them strategies to recognise, and express what they feel inside. For those with attention difficulties, Pauline suggests practical adjustments such as more frequent breaks or adapted seating to better support their needs.

Inside a session

On a daily basis, Pauline conducts individual or small group sessions, generally involving four to five children. These are carefully structured to maintain consistency, something especially important for younger children. Each session begins and ends with familiar rituals, such as having the child mark their attendance on a calendar. Whether using a stamp or writing their name, this moment serves a dual purpose: it gives the child a sense of continuity and offers Pauline a chance to observe fine motor progress over time.

The central part of a session often involves an obstacle course, where children crawl, balance, push, or grab objects. The activities are designed to challenge both coordination and full-body awareness. Even when the focus is purely on movement, Pauline makes the sessions playful and engaging. A visual timer helps children manage time; it is a subtle way to build emotional self-regulation and a sense of beginning, middle, and end.

During these exercises, Pauline simultaneously evaluates gross and fine motor skills, balance, and spatial awareness using simple tools like paper (specifically by asking them to fold it in little accordion shapes) or tracing tasks. Yet her focus goes beyond mechanics – she observes how a child engages with their environment. Can they wait their turn? Do they make eye contact? Are they too quiet, too impulsive, or unusually withdrawn?

Group sessions often conclude with a moment of connection. Children, for example, sit in a circle and say goodbye using a gesture that the others imitate, transforming a farewell into a shared game.

Pauline often encounters children with attention challenges, which can blur into physical coordination issues. One test she uses involves asking a child to balance on one foot while keeping their eyes fixed on a point. If they wobble or step off, it raises the question: is the issue physical or cognitive?

She’s increasingly seeing children with shortened attention spans as well. However, she believes it’s not screens in general that are the problem, but the fragmented attention caused by fast, short-form content. The impact depends on how much exposure a child has, and the context in which it’s consumed.

Follow-up is individualised for each child. Generally, sessions are prescribed by a doctor for a period of around six months which represent about 20 sessions. After this period, a re-evaluation is done, often in collaboration with a physician, to determine whether further sessions are needed. Pauline's role is particularly rooted in prevention. By intervening early, she helps children avoid deeper developmental delays and gives families strategies to build on at home.

She stresses the importance of parental involvement. Without it, she says, progress can be minimal. “We’re only a grain of sand in a child’s daily life,” she notes, adding that psychomotricians are more like detectives. Her goal is to observe, understand what works, and then relay helpful tools to families so that the child’s environment becomes a consistent support.

Familial environment and physical development

Pauline tells us she has witnessed the effects of home environments on physical development. She recalls one boy whose father, anxious about safety, never let him play freely. As a result, the child had trouble with balance and gross motor skills – not because of any medical condition, but simply because he hadn’t been given the opportunity to explore.

She stresses that emotional and neurological influences often coexist, and it takes time and familiarity with the child and family to understand where the challenges originate. Sometimes an MRI is needed; other times, the answers lie in how the child interacts with their world.

In Luxembourg’s multicultural setting, Pauline sees many variations in what different families consider “normal” development. She recalls a school reaching out with concerns about a child from an expat family who was unable to dress independently. From a Western perspective, the child’s inability to dress themselves at a certain age might signal a delay but in the family's cultural context, this wasn’t expected of the child yet. In other countries, older siblings, teachers, and grandparents often help with such tasks for much longer.

While certain milestones – like crawling or walking – are nearly universal, expectations around independence, such as toileting or dressing, are culturally shaped. Professionals must remain sensitive to these differences and avoid mistaking cultural variation for developmental delay.

Screens: The big bad wolf?

When it comes to psychomotor development, Pauline doesn’t blame screens themselves, but rather the sedentary lifestyle they encourage. “It’s time stolen from exploration,” she explains. Every minute in front of a screen is a minute not spent crawling, climbing, or touching the world.

Exploration, she says, is how all forms of development happen – emotional, physical, and cognitive. During the interview, she lifts a glass and shakes it. “A child hears the ice cubes, feels the weight, the straw, the texture. That’s how they learn: by using their body.”

Even drawing digitally, she argues, lacks the sensory variety that comes from using different tools like pencils, markers, or crayons. “Each has a different texture, vibration, and grip,” she says. These distinctions help develop fine motor control. She’s seen children used to drawing on tablets press so hard on paper that they tear through it – a sign of weak hand control and poor muscle modulation.

She adds that even learning math is affected. Children remember more when physical movement is involved. Simply tapping on a screen does not build the same neurological connections as writing by hand. Some children even struggle to recognise numbers when they only see them in digital form.

Ultimately, exploration trains children to adapt to their environment, to tools, and to themselves. Pauline reminds us that writing is one of the most complex fine motor tasks. Even casual drawing can help children orient themselves in space. She recalls a boy who, when asked to write his name on a line, scrawled it across the page title instead. He simply hadn’t yet learned to navigate space on the page.

Final words: what should parents watch for?

One of the early signs to keep an eye on is whether a baby crawls. Some children skip crawling and instead shuffle on their bottoms, often because crawling feels too difficult. While each child is unique, crawling is important for building strength, coordination, and body awareness. If it doesn’t happen, Pauline advises checking in with a pediatrician.

When motor difficulties go unnoticed, children often find ways to compensate, but that doesn’t mean the problem goes away. Over time, unresolved issues can interfere with learning and lead to low self-esteem. A child who’s always seen as clumsy or "bad at sports" may eventually fear trying new things.

Parents can help by doing simple, engaging activities their child enjoys. Drawing, riding a bike, playing ball, or even setting the table all contribute to developing coordination and confidence. No special equipment is needed, just time, attention, and opportunities to explore. At the end of our interview, Pauline repeats with emphasis: “Make your children draw on paper, it's one of the best things parents can do!”

*pseudonym to protect her identity and patients