Tips For Parents On

Fine Motor Skills and Self Help Skills~

Preschool is a time when children experiment and explore - they learn how to control more refined play objects and perform more complex skills.

The ability to use both hands emerges at this time. While one hand is selected as the lead (or dominant) hand, the other is used to guide the play object.

During cutting, coloring, tracing, and printing, parents and teachers should be watching for the kindergarten child's use of a consistent hand. All children alternate hands during play, but as they begin to learn formal writing (lst grade), some children may have difficulty integrating aspects of pencil grip and pencil control because they are still switching hands.

Many children will resolve this "handedness" issue on their own with maturity and practice. But for children showing inefficient skill of either hand, an occupational therapist may be consulted for advice and fine motor exercises.

Fun Activities for Skill Building

Snipping with Scissors:

    * Buy good scissors that work either left- or right-handed. (Children's Fiskar's are good), or try spring loaded scissors to make the task easier.

    * Start by snipping off pieces from a one inch wide strip of paper

    * Vary the weight of the paper. (Thicker paper is easier to control). Try fine grades of sandpaper, brown butcher paper, and aluminum foil. Snip putty or Play Doh to increase hand strength.

    * Work on straight-line cutting before moving on to curved lines.

Improved Pencil Control:

    * Offer wider pencils. Work with markers rather than thinner crayons. A shorter pencil or crayon (3”) promotes use of a tripod grasp.

    * Use large stencils. Look for smoothness of movement. Encourage your child to color inside the stencil. The raised border offers additional tactile and visual cues.

    * Glue yarn around the edge of coloring book pictures. The yarn serves as a raised border. Your child can help place colored glue along the borders of pictures to serve as another raised border. As coloring skill increases, you should see whole arm movements changing to wrist movements, and finally to finger movements.

    * A variety of templates for making "rubbings" are available commercially. This resistive crayon work is very good for developing grasp control.

    * "Wiggle" pens, sold in variety and toy stores, challenge grasp as your child traces shapes or draws with this vibrating pen.

    * Put finger paint into a ziploc bag and seal. Practice forming letters or numbers with index finger, to develop motor planning.

Self Help Tips~

Teaching Buttoning Skills (Ages 3 and Older):

Unbuttoning:

This skill requires precision at the fingertips and 2-handed coordination. Begin with the skill of "unbuttoning".

    * Place a well worn item of clothing with 3/4" buttons on the table-top, facing you. Soft cotton shirts/flannel p.j.'s work well for this because the material is less resistant.

    * Practice pinching the button, tilting the button, then slipping it through the button hole. The larger button gives your child a larger surface to "pinch".

    * Assist your child, as needed - watching for two handed control as one hand holds fabric while the other hand manipulates the button.

    * Practice the "unbuttoning" for a few minutes each day, until your child masters this skill. It may be motivating to place the shirt onto a favorite stuffed animal to make this fine motor practice more exciting. Use the cues "pinch" and "poke".

Buttoning:

Once skillful at unbuttoning, you can introduce buttoning, using the same shirt, oriented facing you. The table top offers forearm support to your child, allowing for greater stability of the arms/hands.

    * The shirt should be in an "open" position. Have your child pinch the button, and poke it through the underside of the button hole. The other hand should move toward midline and pinch the button, to pull it through the button hole.

    * Keep verbal cues very simple and warmly encourage your child by guiding their fingers, as needed.

    * When independent skill develops using 3/4" buttons, it is time to practice with 1/2" buttons.

    * Finally, let your child wear the shirt with oversized buttons, and practice the skill in this new position. Your child will have to orient visually, in a new way, but the basic motor planning has already been mastered.

    * Practice for a few minutes each day and always help your child feel successful.

Good luck with this milestone for self care!

Hints for Shoe Tying (Ages 5 and Older):

Stage 1-

    * Place a child's shoe on the table-top, with two different colored laces (such as red and black) on the left and right side of the shoe.

    * Model how to cross the "red" lace over the "black" lace.

    * Tuck the red lace under the black lace (at the criss-cross of both laces).

    * Grab the red lace with one hand and the black lace with the other hand and pull tightly.

    * Develop your child's mastery of this first stage of shoe tying.

Stage 2-

    * (continued from last step of Stage 1)

    * Make a loop with the red lace, pinch tightly.

    * Carry the black lace around the red loop and tuck it through. (offer lots of assistance here, but the 2 colors of laces will help your child orient to which loop to pull through)

    * Pinch both loops, one with each hand, and pull tightly.

There are cardboard books available that have laces on the page, with poems to help you finish the task. Use whatever works best for your child. By placing the shoe on the table top, we eliminate the bending/stability issue.

When shoe tying progresses to placing the shoe on your child's foot, be sure to support your child's trunk and cross their leg, resting the shoe on the opposite knee. This position brings the shoe "closer" to your child's reach and visual field.

Any adaptions can be made by the parent, depending on how much balance support your child may need (i.e. floor sitting, sitting in the corner of the couch, sitting on a small stool and bending forward).

Marget Wincent, OTR/L

Director

OT Outcomes