4 Y/o Motor Skills

If you are concerned about your son’s fine and gross motor development, bring this up with your pediatrician or healthcare provider. Generally at 4 years of age, a child should be able to copy a circle and jump forward 4 to 6 inches with both feet. Your child’s doctor may refer you to a physical or occupational therapist for an evaluation.

My middle child just turned 5 and when he was at your sons age, he was very similar. I tried doing "school" work with him and he was not interested at all. He would get so frustrated with me over it and throw the paper and pencil to the ground. He also wanted nothing to do with team sports... we did t-ball the last two summers with him and he just stood there watching and sometimes just rolled around and played by himself in the grass while the others were actually playing the game.

BUT, as I said, he just turned 5. When we were nearing his 5th birthday things started to change. He is interested in writing letters now and doing other school type work. He is also playing soccer and doing gymnastics and loves them both and is a very active participant. His birthday is on the deadline for starting school so we opted to have him wait until next year to start kindergarten. Something you may consider doing with your son.

All of the changes happened seemingly overnight. Our oldest son was a lot different and matured a lot sooner so it took us a while to quit comparing the two and realize that all kids, even those with the same parents, mature and grow at very different rates.

I guess that was a long way to say your son is probably just fine but if you are still concerned, be sure and ask your pediatrician when you go in for his 4 year check up. :)

The 4 year olds we've worked with usually do know to do a straight line or something close to a straight line. My 4 year old can jump up and down on two feet and pretty good on one foot jumping, he holds on to something.

Sounds like there may be a delay. Each child is different and develops at different times/ages.

I got my 4 year old boy for his birthday- a rescue game- board game- little cars with dice in a plastic tub on top of the vehicle. He's really into fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. This game has all those and they go to emergencies and whoever get those emergency cards wins.

We also got him a helmet for his new bike on training wheels.

Our child is 4 and he is delayed and has difficulty with fine motor skills, has sensory integration disorder and is overall behind his age in doing activities. He is in Occupational Therapy 2 times a week.

Here's the activities they do in therapy:
puzzles, games that involve small pieces- like fishing game, matching, magnet type games, playdoh, chutes and ladders, Topple, Perfection, swinging, jumping on trampoline, drawing, coloring using crayons, markers, matching type games, matching shapes,beads and string, lacing,Mr. Potato Head,etc.., using tongs to place plastic bugs into a bag.

At home:
we do puzzles- not cartoony type, we are getting more difficult puzzles- 25 and above pieces that are realistic looking (this his is weakness), games- perfection, topple, lacing, chutes and ladders, beads and stringing beads, macaroni- take macaroni and glue it to a piece of paper and make a shape or a letter. Glue cheerios to a piece of paper and make a letter or picture; Lite Brite, coloring, painting- finger and brush painting, playdoh-accessories, Mr. Potato Head and accessories, using tongs to pick up tiny things and place them in a bag, therapy putty (I've had hand surgery and I have the putty I used in therapy), the therapist use this also in their therapy, so I use it at home for my Son- we hide things in it and he gets it out of there and then hides it again. You might be able to find this at Sports store or online.

We use the Child Study Center for evaluations, before that we used ECI. They are both great agencies. We get therapy thru Sante Pediatrics Therapy. We've also used Therapy 2000 as well here at home, however it is more expensive to do it that way.

I would highly recommend either his school evaluating him or take him to his Dr. or to the Child Study center for an evaluation just to make sure he is on target and that he is getting the services he needs, if it is therapy,etc..

Make it fun and not boring, they have to have fun doing it. If you do it also, that helps more and they will more open to it.

Good Luck!

My son had sensory integration disorder, so we are in a slightly different boat. My son had to have therapy. But, he also refused to jump and his fine motor skills weren't very good. Two of the things that the therapist suggested for us were:

1. Everytime we got out of the car, make that an "event" to practice jumping. Jump off of the curb thing that is at the front of the car. Or jump OVER the lines that mark where the cars park. You will be surprised at how many jumping opportunities there are and my son REALLY enjoyed this.

2. Get pipe cleaners or string and string beads onto them. My son was two when we did this and so the beads were the big ones. He could not manage string at all, but he really enjoyed stringing the pipe cleaners. We just did it over and over again. He enjoyed it and it helped with the fine motor skills.

In therapy, they actually did a LOT to help him. They made him walk on balance beams (flat and also tilted upwards). My made him climb boxes and jump down from them (he hated this though - too high). And, they forced him to climb stairs alternating his legs (what your son and see if he alternates).

But, I have to say, my son is 6.5 now and I think his fine motor skills are awesome. But, when I go and look at the artwork hanging on the classroom walls, the girls' artwork is much "neater" and prettier. The girls are well advanced compared to the boys at this same age.

Good luck!
L.

He sounds perfectly normal to me. Fine motor skills sometimes come later for some kids, especially boys. There's a good reason they do not start kindergarten until they are 5!! Maturity and fine motor are high on the list. He may never be into sports, and that's just fine. A good imagination and building skills will get him far in life!!

Something they told me in occupation therapy that I didn't know about fine motor skills. Children build their skills from large motor to fine. This means that he will most likely build the gross motor skills and work on to the fine motor.

Good luck w/the ttc#2!!

I would say let him be a kid, first and foremost. I have a five-year-old that would never color, draw, never wanted to learn to write his name. Just before he started to school, he became somewhat interested in writing his name, but still would much rather be climbing a tree, or a wall :).

I knew that forcing practice would make him hate anything related to school, so I got creative. I found some way to work in learning letters, numbers, etc. This was all auditory, of course, but I decided that I had to start where he was and allow him to be ready for the fine motor skill activity.

Naturally, this summer before he started school, he asked to learn to write letters and had a desire to be ready for school. Every child is different, and he may have been a little behind starting out on his writing and fine motor skills, but I was talked very frankly with his teacher about all this, asked her to keep me informed on what to work with him on at home, and he has had a great year so far. Last week his teacher invited in after school to look at his work and said he has made definite progress and is now taking pride in his work.

Most of all, it takes a lot of patience to let them be kids sometimes, but I think my job as a mom is to make learning fun because kids learn by having fun.

So have fun with your son overall. Build letters out of legos or playdoh and let him copy what you do. Role play with his action figures in "super-hero school" and lead him in fun ways to teach his toys about letters or whatever you think he may need to know. But overall, if he just isn't ready, give him time. With your love and support, he is going to be fine when he gets to school as long as he doesn't feel a vibe from you that he's not measuring up. The fact that you are concerned and making a plan for him to be successful means that he has the support system to be a huge success. I wish you all the best with you son!