There are many reasons for problems around fine motor development, which influence things like pencil grip. More boys than girls appear to have delays in this area. We can attribute some of these delays to modern lifestyles.
In this age of T-shirts, Velcro and takkies, TV, DVDs and computers, children have fewer opportunities to practice fine motor skills in activities such as drawing, painting, cutting, gluing, moulding, threading, weaving, tying, building blocks or doing puzzles. Your child needs opportunities to increase the strength of the small muscles of the hand and fingers.
The activities mentioned above will help in this regard. Another idea is to make a workshop board full of nuts, bolts, screws and keys to turn, and allow him to fiddle with discarded appliances such as clocks and watches. All these activities help in the strengthening of his small muscles; which is what is being referred to when we talk of fine motor development.
Accompanying fine motor development is gross motor development which refers to the development of the large muscles. In this regard outdoor play is vital: climbing, swinging and playing with sand and water. Developmental milestones aren’t always rigidly chronological, and it’s unfortunate that if a child’s pencil grip isn’t perfect to begin with it’s sometimes seen as a case for therapy rather than for less formal intervention.
It’s true that a lot of children in Grade 1 have untidy handwriting, although “Untidy” in itself is a subjective assessment. Allowing this to be the dominant focus at this time could have an impact on his love of learning and his self esteem.
Don’t rush into therapy, rather discuss other approaches with his teacher, things that can be done in and out of school that encourage fine motor development, and then reassess his development later in the year.
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Comments - 9 comments
M.Kuhn
When it comes to poor fine motor co-ordination and a teacher sugests therapy rather take the advise and get your child assessed as your child can only benefit from the outcome. If the results is good you will have the peace of mind if not early intervention is beter than addressing the problem later when the child already struggles in school. Mostly it is not only the fine the coordination that is affected but also the intergration and some of the other visualperceptual skills. The fact that the handwriting is not neat is not the only reason a teacher deems therapy necessary. We as OT's are trained to see future problem and aid where we can but the finale choice remains the moms and as a mom is the best you can offer your child not what we all want.Debbie
Hi, My little boy is - age 7 in grade one and a very gentle little soul. I'v also had the teacher requesting assessment, initially full now she believes only OT is required? He's met all his milestones, and I believe he's actually more advanced than most i.e. he stands and balances on the rump of our pony while she's walking! rode his 2 wheel bike without training wheels at 5 .... does a 200 piece puzzle without assistance in under 30 min, completes the OT exercise - beading onto spikes with tweezers easily ... now we even colour code everything! I opted to rater do my own OT type work with him at home ... the teacher gave me that ... yeah sure look and has never offered any advice. I was horrified to find that when I asked him to write a row of a's for me, he asked me for an example so he could copy. I discovered that he may as well have been copying a square or triangle as he had no idea how to correctly form the words and was copying the shape. Naturally this will affect the spacial reasoning - letters too close and too far apart etc. This was my starting point, teaching him to correctly form each letter of the alphabet. We work for approx 40 minutes each day (inc weekends and holidays) - I used the web site mrsperkins.com for dolch word flash cards, I include math worksheets, some spelling and hand writing. We also include something fun/artie - colouring in, beading, mosaics, french knitting, button threading etc so that we have a finished project to brag about. I'v seen a monumental difference and would certainly tell people to give it a try! Sure it takes discipline, time and patience but the results speak for themselves. Unfortunately I don't think that my teacher is ever going to concede that this could be achieved without formal OT .... :( not sure why when at the end of the day it should be a matter of whatever works for the child and not about personal ego's. Debbie Hillcrest, KZNTyarah
Unfortunately I have to agree with Losh. Teachers are lazy to teach and every slight problem a child has, there's a pill to fix it. We grew up having the same difficulties and I don't think any of us got medicated to fix our spelling or writting. It's terrible what we put our kids through these days, why can't we just trust the fact that their human. As human beings we are different, others take a little more time to know somethings than others. What will happen if someone can't afford such medication. Does it mean the child is doomed for life? No! Just trust human nature. I think God knew what He was doing when He created a human being. Maybe the child might need a few more classes or help from mommy and patience of course. And we must keep reminding them how clever they are.Cindi Love
I read your article on Occupational Therapy and the letter from Lorayne. It was like reading my own story. I did not rush into therapy but requested some extra work to do at home with my son. The teacher gave me some work sheets and a grip known as the dolphin grip. The grip goes around the wrist has a hole to push the pencil through their is a dolphin charm that hangs from the wrist attachment that must be held by 3 fingers while the child tries to write. After a week of trying this grip my son was so frustrated he was in tears.For me it was a straight jacket of a grip.I took the grip off and told him to just do the best he can. My son was in a Montesorri school up to Grade R and excelled and loved to learn. He past grade one but I was frowned apon for not sending my child to therapy. He is now in grade 2 and the teacher now has problems with his memory, consentration, perception ect. I am besides my self because my child is slowly but surly loosing the passion he had to learn. He even refered to himself the other day as stupid. How can a child go from top of his class in Grade R to this.Over 50% of the children in his class are at therapy or on medication for concentration. Please advise as I am at my witts end. I dont know what to do to help my child. Regards CindiLosh
In my opinion teachers nowadays are just lazy to teach or basically do what they are being paid for. We pay high school fees for them to dictate to us what we must teach our children and they suggest endless therapy.......in my school days children who were recommended therapy were ones with real problems. These days therapy is something so common that every other child has to go for. The real problem is with us as parents as many just sit back and accept that our kids are slow etc.....parents can afford this therapy so they just give in. Parents need to stand up and get teachers to do what they are being paid for and stop degrading our children! I am trying to do that but just me against this doesn't stand me or my child a chance.Bilkish
As a parent, i am also in the same situation. My son is 4 and a half years and is in school. He has a speech problem and isn't very fluent but if u listen when he speaks you understand what he is saying. His teacher told us that he doesn't have a firm grip and he is struggling with writing. It's hard as a parent my concern is too ensure that my child gets the proper help..... I believe in him.....Shirley
My son will be 5 in the next few months and has very poor pencil grasp and becomes frustrated when unable to complete a task correctly or when his grasp is corrected. He dislikes colouring in and drawing. Are there any pointers on how to improve this? Are there any standard requirements that need to be met for grade R/0?Relebohile
i am currently in a similar situation, my child is in grade 2,he can read very good, he participate in class and he is good with maths but he can't write the words that he reads and his hand writing is bad. if i access the situation my self i think that he is lazy to thik when he is writing. but according to the teacher he needs to see the OT because of that.Taryn
Reading this article was very interesting and I also had a similar situation with my son. He is in Grade R, and in the first term of this year his teacher also suggested OT. Apparently he was battling with directionality and his mid line crossing. I asked the teacher what I could do at home to help and she gave me a few exercises for him. Then the second term came along and she said how much better he was doing but he was struggling with maths. I again did some exercises at home which the teacher had given me and he was coping very well. I think, and this is purely my opinion, (my child is extremely shy) and doesn't want to put up his hand or give an answer at school because he is scared he may get it wrong, and the teacher sees this as if he doesn't know how to do the work.