Cross-pattern crawling is forward movement where the child extends his right arm and pulls up his left leg, pushing and pulling with the right arm and left leg. He then alternates his movement so that he is pushing and pulling with the left arm and right leg. If the child crawls without a pattern or in a manner where he is extending both arms forward and pulling both legs up, he is also reflecting dysorganization in the pons area of the brain. Advancing to the mid-brain, organization or dysorganization can be assessed by examining the child's ability to creep on his hands and knees. Remember, you crawl before you creep.
Crawling is on the stomach, and creeping is on the hands and knees.
The child should also creep in a cross pattern. Properly, the child's hands should be extended flat on the floor with fingers pointing forward. Ideally, the child should be looking forward at the extended hand. In assessing your child's ability to creep, it is necessary that you have him creep at various speeds, with varied amounts of starting and stopping. A child properly organized at this level should never go into the homolateral pattern or homologous pattern.