Interview with Catherine LEFEVRE
Hello Catherine LEFEVRE
You’re a psychomotricist with a degree in educational science and neuro-education.
First of all, could you tell us about your career path, because I think you’ve had several jobs?
As a young student, I initially opted for an artistic career. I went up to Paris to dance. I trained at the “Irène Popard” school, where I benefited from groundbreaking teaching in movement education. Founded in 1917 and inspired by the dance of Isadora Duncan and the rhythmics of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, the “Irène Popard” method was the first to focus on the physical and artistic education of young children to “Enable children and adults alike to get to know their bodies and gradually master them, to move rhythmically and musically, in space and time”.
Later, without denying this valuable teaching – on the contrary! -, I became a psychomotrician. The body and movement which are basic elements at the foundation of harmonious development, became my leitmotifs!
For more than 30 years, I’ve been working in the early childhood sector. I worked in hospitals with very premature babies up to the age of two. I was also involved in the voluntary sector: I worked for the association “Solidarité Enfant Sida” for 6 years. I did training with ACEPP for future childminders, childcare assistants and early childhood educators. I was also involved in the private sector, where I progressed to the position of educational manager for more than 350 ECECs, and today I’m back in an associative group.
Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in training: as a Snoezelen trainer, I introduced this approach to the early childhood sector in France. I have a degree in educational science and neuro-education, so I can learn about and understand scientific advances and their correlations with so-called new teaching methods and discoveries, enabling me to rethink my day-to-day practices with children and families.
My RMTI training courses are an illustration of this. How scientific knowledge on the integration of reflexes offers a new perspective on the importance of the genesis of the human being, and ultimately on its development during the antero-perinatal period for development and, above all, on ways of dealing with it. You’ll also notice the importance of movement throughout my career.
Today, I’m training in the psychology and psychopathology of parenthood, aware of the many expectations placed on early childhood professionals in this area.
Credit photo Liveli
You wrote the book “Motricité et sensorialité du jeune enfant”, published by Dunod. Why did you write this book?
I’m very fortunate to be listened to by my colleagues: professionals in the field, managers and trainers, and for several years now I’ve been contributing articles to the website “Les pros de la petite enfance”. So I was keen to pass on my knowledge in writing. Training and conferences are valuable and enriching ways of passing on knowledge, but they are limited to a specific time and place, and their impact is uncertain. A book enables us to reach a large number of professionals and parents.
Writing a book was also a new exercise, a challenge. The hope of being read and seeing my ideas taken up and shared is a source of great pride and, let’s face it, of pleasure!
What is this book about and how can it help parents and carers?
This book is about child development from 0 to 3 years! It discusses the importance of sensitive periods: windows of time and space that facilitate certain learning processes in the development of very young children. The book focuses on the sensitive motor period and the sensitive sensory period, and once the neurological mechanism has been understood, the reader is invited to appropriate the theory and put it into practice, using simple idea sheets that are accessible to everyone.
You emphasise the importance of early childhood development between the ages of 0 and 3. Why, and in what way, is this period important for both motor skills and sensory development?
First of all, I’d like to point out that sometimes sensoriality is stimulated by movement, and sometimes it is about movement itself when it comes to proprioception and kinaesthesia. Sensoriality can still lead to movement.
Between the ages of 0 and 3, children discover the world around them through their senses;
- They are reassured by the sound of their parents’ voices,
- They enjoy the softness and warmth of the skin that holds them
- They are attuned to the smell of the person who is taking care of them..
- They gain self-confidence thanks to the rocking and rocking movements that stimulate the vestibular system …
For phylogenetic and initially survival reasons, the vast majority of our senses are neurologically mature from birth. These sensory stimulations generate sensations and often motor responses. The brain and body record this information, which will later form the basis of spatio-temporal and cognitive learning.
It is sensory experiences that encourage children to discover and explore.
For the construction and implementation of learning, what can you share with us about memory, or the types of memory mobilised?
Children essentially use two types of memory to anchor their learning in the brain:
– Episodic memory, linked to context (linked to the prefrontal cortex). It is important to provide children with positive and pleasant environments to facilitate their learning.
– Repetitive memory linked to the hippocampus. This is a reminder of the extent to which repetition, both verbal and gestural, is necessary for young children to be able to remember the associated learning.
What is also the importance and the role of:
. pleasure in learning?
Pleasure is essential to learning: it encourages action, risk-taking and doing. It sustains and develops curiosity and motivation to keep trying, and therefore to keep learning. Pleasure encourages active commitment and perseverance.
Pleasure enables learning to be consolidated. Positive emotions facilitate memorisation and understanding (cf. episodic memory). They encourage the production of dopamine, which is involved in strengthening neuronal connections – which improves the retention of information.
. sleep?
Sleep allows us to rest, restore our bodies and produce enzymes and hormones, particularly growth hormones.
But sleep is above all about pressing “the ‘record’ button on the computer”! Sleep allows the brain to store what it has learned. It helps to consolidate memory and brain development, regulate emotions and improve cognitive functions.
Regular, quality sleep is essential to optimise young children’s learning capacity and overall development. It’s interesting to note that rhythms change depending on the context! These are not simply archaic or reflex behaviours. They are a form of expression.
Credit photo Liveli
What conclusion would you like to draw on these vast subjects of motor skills and sensoriality for children aged 0-3?
Sensoriality and motor skills are precursors to a great deal of learning. Above all, they generate pleasure for both children and adults. Let’s not deprive ourselves of experiences or situations that offer them.
Thank you Catherine Lefevre.
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