Fine Motor Skills - Independence,OH

I was going to suggest "help me grow" but see that someone beat me to it. I agree that they are a wonderful organization.

The school is indicating your child is developmentally behind. Normally, a doctor would indicate you need to see a developmental therapist once a week to work on those skills. However, I do not think the school system has those types of therapists.

You need to request a case conference with the school to discuss how to treat the dealy. Request they assign your child a occupational therapist to work on developmental delays.

You can talk to a family doctor, but they may not have much training or information on delays (which is normal). The best person to talk to is a physchologist, which can assess the cause of the delay. The psychologist can then write a prescription for a developmental or occupational therapist. You then have the option of taking the psychologist's report to the school system, so they know how to treat your child within a learning environment. Also, you can take the prescription for therapy to a occupational or developmental therapist to work on building skills for use outside of the classroom.

It's nice to know that I am not the only mom of a 4 year old boy with fine motor skills difficulties. I looked online and found great information on working at these tasks. My son also is being evaluted by our local school district to see if he would qualify for occupation therapy. His preschool is very proactive and we all see the same issues. Your preschool should be able to give you the contact information for your local school, it never hurts to call and ask plus these services are free!

We worked on making braided key chains, putting together puzzles and a lot of drawing. It might be an eye problem actually. There is a list of small things you can work on daily like having him look straight ahead and touch his index finger to his nose. Have him take a pencil and while looking at you try to put the pencil into a toilet paper tube you are holding at different levels in front of him without touching the sides. I have a more complete list somewhere. If you are interested let me know and I will find it for you. In the meantime I would talk to my optomatrist about the testing. They have therapy programs to help develope this skill which most insurances cover.

Hi N.,

Fine motor skills are very important moving forward. If this is the only difficulty he has, and it is just a weakness, then work on the basic skills at home to strengthen his skills and practice more. However, if you have noticed other things that make you wonder, or if you are taking a "wait and see" approach to other delays in speech, language, social development, sensory development or behavior, even if these are just a little odd, then I would suggest that you be proactive by checking into a developmental evaluation. This is not to say that he is not very bright, there can be developmental issues in even the brightest children, but the sooner you catch it the better, and the better the outcome will be. If this is his only issue, and things do not improve with practice at home, you can also elect to have an occupational therapist evaluate him to see what specific areas are effected. If he is having trouble using scissors because of bilateral integration skills he would need different kinds of interventions than if he was having the same trouble because of visual perceptual problems. I am not saying that is is anything serious, just that once you have a sign, you should look deep and make sure that you do not miss anything that could get you into intervention sooner, rather than later.

If the problem is pencil skills, you might try a "Y" shaped pencil with him, it is called "Twist n' Write" and I have seen them at Staples in the pencil isle recently. This helps little hands find that tripod grasp that will lead to better pencil control.

M.

Cut coupons! Both of my children had trouble with scissors and both improved greatly when I let them cut coupons. They thought this was a big kid thing to be able to do and they sometimes even begged me to let them do it:) Use safety scissors of course!

L. Etta, mother of an 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl.

Hi N.,

I haven't read all the responses, so forgive any repetition.

I noticed someone said they used play-doh--I was thinking to have him help you make cookies (form the dough into balls or shapes) and then decorate with raisins, M&Ms, etc, anything to get him to pick up small things and convey them from one spot to another. He could also decorate frosted cakes or cookies with small candies, or help spread the frosting.

Spear fruit pieces on toothpicks, dip in yogurt (or frosting--yum!), roll in sprinkles or graham cracker crumbs.

Maybe for snacks serve a bowl of dry cheerios?

Make Valentines for Grandparents--cut out hearts and paste onto card stock.

Make book marks out of card stock--he can color them, paste pictures/stickers on them, punch a hole and thread a ribbon through it, or any combination.

Cut confetti--and let him throw it if that would be a good incentive! Hopefully you can get him to help clean up too, lol.......He could glue some to the bookmarks and Valentines.

Show him how to cut snowflakes from paper, he may like that. Make a mobile of them by hanging from a coat hanger. Hang a few soda straws from threads from the hanger, then you can hang from each end of the straw too, and it's a little more 3-D that way.

Sewing cards? Do they still make them? Maybe you could devise a way for him to stitch a box together. Make it out of card stock or cardboard with pictures or a pattern/stripe he likes (you can sometimes find partial rolls of wallpaper at the Goodwill store for almost nothing). He could cut the pictures from magazines and paste them on the card stock or cardboard. You will need to pre-punch the holes. He could keep his art supplies in the box when it is done.

Make an animal/monster/fantasy creature out of pipe cleaners or wire. He can add these to the hot wheels or Thomas play sets that others have mentioned! (those are also good things).

Toy (or real) piano keyboard--encourage him to try to play one note at a time, or if he really likes it, 2 notes together but skip the key between (if that doesn't make sense email me privately).

Have him help plant seeds in the garden (or indoors in a pot).

Did the teacher have any suggestions? If none were given, ask!

Check out Oriental Trading for ideas (you don't even have to buy anything, just look at their web site and see if anything is there that looks like he might like it).

Whatever you do, don't call it therapy, call it fun!!

Hope this helps! good luck!

K. Z.

AH! The "JOYS" of fine motor skills. I have a kindergarten who will be 6 soon, and he also has fine motor skill issues.
His preschool teacher suggested playing with play duh as much as possible, paint and color with him at home. (Which are not things my son likes to do.)
I have worked on writing, shown him step by step how to draw things, have the play duh out and everywhere, painting. I found websites which suggested putty called theraputty. It has helped. You hide things in it and they pick through to find them. There are different strengths. We have had him evaluated, but my sons deficits weren't big enough for continual treatment through the district.
He's getting better. His preschool and Kindergarten teacher are/have been wonderful with working with him. They both just say "He's a boy, it's not something he's interested in so you have to stress how fun it is, how important it is and spend all your time encouraging him!" AHHH. Best of luck!
He ONLY has fine motor skill deficits. No other things.

wow, you have some very in-depth responses. I did not have a response for you, but your question was the first in my daily mamasource emails so I read on, and holy cow, I was nervous for you. My first grader has a learning "disability", which is scary too, but all the commotion over fine motor skills? Holy Cow, he is only 4 1/2! Zak was 5 when we learned he was having trouble. After a few days of "researching" the problem, I was overwhelmed and scared. So, I took a deep breath, and remembered he is only 5! How about "boy things"- little legos like batman or pirates grab my sons interest. I know, I Know, the usual age recommendation is 7, you can find some for 5year olds. But geez, if he old enough to have fine motor skills, he is old enough for lego's, with adult supervision, of course. Lego at one time had a wonderful board game for children. A five year old probably could not follow the directions to build the batman and pirate stuff, but as an adult (who does not paticularly enjoy building legos), I am always pleasantly suprised at how simple the directions make it. When my son sees I can do it, he usually joins in for the "free play". But it is the little lego "guys" that come with the capes or swords, helmets, ect., that grab my 5 year olds attention, and this will certainly build those fine motor skills. Hot wheels make little garages and such for a fairly inexpensive price, like 5-7$. Again you build the garage. Very simple. and you drive the cars up ramps and through car washes and crash through walls-lots of good boy stuff. Also, I am a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan! This is an investment, however, a starter set starts around 30$, but the off brands are almost as nice for a fraction of that cost. Some book stores have demo sets you can play with for free. I would start off big and work my way down to avoid frustration for your son. For instance, Thomas would be a larger toy for fine motor skills, then the hot wheels and of course the legos taking the most skill.
Don't forget puzzles, which are usually free at librarys. Magnetic fridge alphatbets are nice to. Sorry for being so lenghty. However, we have kids, little children! Two years ago they could hardly run, or make complete sentences. The poor schools are in a rat race for goverenment money and test scores. Trust your teachers, give your son some time. Save your specialist co-pays, spend that money on boy stuff. Your son will be fine! and he will probably have some extra fun along the way. Please let me know how you do.

Don't worry--it's very normal for this age, especially boys. Anything you can do to strengthen his hand muscles will help--like getting a "stress ball" and having him squeeze it (you can make it into a game!). Playing with playdough and squeezing it and forming it will strengthen his hand muscles. Other things to practice small movement with his hands, like threading beads on a string or pipe cleaner, picking beans or other small objects up with a pair of tongs or tweezers, will help. Good luck!

Funny, I have heard the same thing about my sone who is 5 for the last two school years now. Basically, boys develop slower than girls and this is one of the last things that will develop. We just continue to practice his name and wait for nature to take its course.

Also, just a thought, was your son a preemie? Premature births have an effect on development.

At my preschool, we work with kids fine motor skills regularly. Play doh, watercolor painting, puzzles,even playing Memory can help. Also, try putting pennies in a row and have him use his fingers to flip them all over, then flip them all back again. That is great to help stregthn the "tri-fold" or pencil grip.

I am the mother of a wonderful 17 month old that was born with Turner Syndrome (she is missing one of her X chromosomes). She has been in Physical and Occupational therapy since she was 3 months old to help her overcome some physical challenges as well as some spatial disabilities. She is now hitting and exceeding all of her milestones and we now have the tools to work with her to help her develop normally.
My suggestion would be to contact Help Me Grow (a branch of the Ohio Department of Health, http://www.ohiohelpmegrow.org/ to get help get your child evaluated and connected with qualifies therapists in your area.
From what we have experienced, with a little help and early intervention, your child can really blossom and exceed your expectations.
I wish you and your family the best of luck.
N. F

N.,

Definitely work on things at home, but I would have an evaluation done by an occupational therapist to see the total picture and get advice/materials on how to help the problem. Good luck!

P.S. - saw that you had suggestions for Help Me Grow. They are great, but believe they are only responsible for children until they are 3.

My daughter took swimming lessons with a little girl who's M. was an occupational therapist. Us M.'s would talk about teaching our kids to write and the M. who is the OT said to strengthen muscles needed use tweezers to transfer cotton balls in between 2 bowls and do the wheelbarrell crawl with your children (hold your child's feet in the air with your hands and they walk forward and back on their hands). She said both activities are great for muscle strength needed. Best wishes!

Hi N., I am an occupational therapist and agree with the over all feeling that boys tend to lag with fine motor skills - first question I have for you - did he crawl much as a baby? This is a very important stage for fine motor development as it assists in the development of the palmar arches.

I recommend tearing paper into small pieces - wadding it into balls - call it a soccer ball or foot ball then aim for a "goal" and flick the paper. Not only does the wadding assist with the thenar and hypothenar emenence - but it also assists with hand eye control and grasps of all sorts. Make a game out of it with a prize for his highest score :)

Feel free to email me anytime for more ideas

What specifically is he having trouble with...writing, holding a pencil or crayon, scissors...what are the expectations at his school that he is not meeting? Does he enjoy doing activities such as playdough? These activities strengthen and are great fine motor activities. Stringing beads, using a tong to pick up pom pons to fill a pop bottle, using scissors to just cut scrap paper, don't worry about cutting straight yet. You, or the school, can integrate these activities to help him with some simple fine motor tasks. These are all typical preschool fine motor activities that I used in my classroom. If he is not writing his name yet and that is what the teacher is worried about, maybe start small with some tracing the dots activities. Make a few dots in the shape of a square, let's say, and see if he can follow the dots and go from there. Then try letters which will then help him with his name...

From my experience teaching preschool, part of the reason why many boys have trouble learning fine motor skills is because the activities usually used to practice these skills are sit-down, stay-in-your-seat activities. So whatever activity you do, please keep it short or allow him to get up when he seems to tire of it - otherwise he may start to regard coloring, cutting, and other fun activities work instead of play, and will do it less. Make it fun and hopefully he'll do them more often, and he'll catch on more quickly.

I am a Pre-Kindergarten teacher of four and five-year-olds. It is very common for boys to be a little behind in fine motor skills. Most boys have little interest in "table work" or using pencils and paper. We always recommend a fine motor box to get boys interested. Put things like paper punchers, silly putty, staplers (under supervision), tweezers to pick small objects that interest your child (mini dinosaur erasers, mini cars,etc.)squeeze bottles of glue, glitter glue or paint,etc. Anything that requires squeezing or engaging of those small muscles. Make it fun, not like homework, and keep it simple. Any little effort on your end will help a lot. Don't worry, he'll be just fine! :)

Keep in mind that most boys' fine motor skills are still developing until age 8 or 9! Yes! That means most boys have difficulties writing (and poorer handwriting than the girls) until 2nd or 3rd grade.

There are some good responses here so I won't repeat much. A great way to strengthen the fingers is to play with playdoh.