As an occupational therapist focusing on Fine Motor Skills, my message is very clear to those I teach: promote fine motor skills development in order to prevent fine motor skills delays. It is so much more effective to start when children are infants and toddlers to promote normal development than to deal with fine motor skill delays when they have manifested as poor academics in elementary school.
How to promote fine motor skills
I'll focus on different ages groups with my blogs as working on improving fine motor skills is very age specific. As an infant, grasping is a reflex. You can put your finger out for a baby to hold and he/she will amaze you as they grip onto you. Sorry folks, but that's actually not a planned motor action, it is a reflex. However, you can capatilize on that reflex by giving the baby different sized and shaped objects to grasp, therefore starting to develop their arches of the hand that are first steppping stone to fine motor skills. See how early you can actually start? Right away!
The next advice I would give is to start "Tummy Time" right away. That's right, put your child on their stomach every day for play time. It's difficult when a child does not have head control and it may not be his/her favorite position but make sure you do this daily and gradually work up the amount of time spent on the tummy. This will promote neck control and eventually the child will start to take weight through their arms and then the hands. This is CRITICAL for the development of the shoulder, arm and hand. I will talk more about this in my next blog which I complete monthly.
Karey
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment