Fine motor skills.....advice?

harvester of sorrow

So my 5 year old princess started j.i last sept; loves it and seems to be getting on fine.
But we had our first parent teacher meeting 2 days ago and everything was grand,only "her motor skills aren't great".The teacher said she's not to concerned about it,just that my princess may need to build up the strength in her fingers with excersises,to help.
Did anyone here have a similar experience?Is it something to worry about and will this affect her long term....?
Thanks
Worried parent.:(

Bicycle

Were you worried about your little lady before the teacher pointed this out?

Just wondering. I think the parents are always their children's experts.

The teacher's comment may be nothing or it may be something to take note of.

I have two children with dyspraxia - Developmental Control Disorder. Formerly known as Clumsy Child Syndrome. Their motor skills aren't great.

Both of them started out being a bit uncoordinated - I wasn't too worried as I'm quite clumsy myself. But I became concerned when my daughter's writing wasn't improving. I kept on pushing and pushing for an educational psychology assessment (daughter is a few years older than son) and finally got one in 6th Class. After a further assessment from an occupational therapist she was diagnosed. When speaking with the OT we mentioned that our son's teacher had mentioned that his writing wasn't great and the OT suggested that he meet with her as well.

To cut a long story short, he was diagnosed as well.

BUT, the good news is that both of them are doing fabulously. So, on the downside, neither will be on an Irish gymnastics team and my son can't ride a bike (he has a cart) but they're doing fabulously at school. And my daughter is at dance school and loves it.

Your daughter might have nothing wrong with her at all. But if she does have dyspraxia, its not a serious issue. And I hope I haven't upset or scared you.

Amanda Kirby is the acknowledged expert on dyspraxia - this is her website
http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/services/dys_dyspraxia.php

Or if you want to PM me, feel free to do so.

harvester of sorrow

Thank you for your reply,
i cant say i was ever worried about her before the teacher said it,i mean she started walking at the right age and her speech was advanced for her age also.Her colouring was that bit behind from the rest of her friends but i have seen her come on alot in this area,she is very good at irish also.
The one thing i do remember is she used to always spill her cup of juice when she was about 3/4 not so much now.She sometimes gets confused about putting the right shoe on the correct foot.
Is this what you mean about uncoordinated?
Thanks again

Lady Chatterton

harvester of sorrow wrote: »

So my 5 year old princess started j.i last sept; loves it and seems to be getting on fine.
But we had our first parent teacher meeting 2 days ago and everything was grand,only "her motor skills aren't great".The teacher said she's not to concerned about it,just that my princess may need to build up the strength in her fingers with excersises,to help.
Did anyone here have a similar experience?Is it something to worry about and will this affect her long term....?
Thanks
Worried parent.:(

I would recommend that you arrange an assessment with an Occupational Therapist. Your daughter's school should be able to recommend someone. Alternatively, if you contact your local Public Health Nurse she should be able to arrange a referral to the local HSE occupational therapy team. (Ask what the waiting time is as there can be long wait times depending where you live). The OT will assess your child and give you a programme to follow which will help improve your daughter's fine motor skills.

Amazon have a lot of books available on this issue;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=improve+fine+motor+skills&x=0&y=0

Best of luck

Bicycle

Your daughter sounds a bit like me.

I was forever falling and tripping. Nursing a very sore hand this evening where I landed when I inadvertently tried to fly from the kerb to my car this afternoon!! My writing is great. I was told by the OT after the younger two were diagnosed that I had a touch of the dyspraxia as well.

I'm still (aged post 45 ) getting confused between my right and my left.

And do we talk here? All of us are accomplished talkers :D:D Some would say a little too much. Great vocabularies, absolutely no problems. Son and myself are great at Irish, daughter won't be head hunted by TnaG .

I can knit and sew - I made a debs dress for my elder daughter (who hasn't dyspraxia) this time last year and I'm a dab hand with a screwdriver.

All I'll say to you is - enjoy herself. 5 is a lovely age - I'm sure she's a fabulous lady, great fun and absolutely gorgeous. Don't start worrying about things.

If the writing slows up a bit or becomes hard and if your daughter is finding it hard to ride a bike (our daughter can ride a bike, son can't) or she is a bit awkward when swimming, think about the dyspraxia.

I had a look at Amanda Kirby's site again after I posted it and to be honest, my two don't have a lot of those symptoms.

My son has Aspergers as well, my daughter doesn't. And sometimes the dyspraxia will be present with the Aspergers, but remember 8 times more boys have Aspergers than girls.

The reality is, that if your daughter's motor skills aren't the best, its not a major issue. Not everyone progresses at the same stage developmentally. And most people catch up by the time they're in middle to late childhood.

I hope this has been of some help to you.

harvester of sorrow

Thanks eveyone for the replies and advice.

sparkydave

hi
My lad started school in sept too and I was told the same she said it was nothing to worry about its just he is using muscles he isnt used to using!
she suggested playing with clothes pegs and playdough to strenghten up his fingers.
hope this stops you from worrying too much

harvester of sorrow

Ya thats what her teacher said,to play with play dough to strenghten finger muscles....i guess i could be over reacting to something that could be nothing..the joys of parenthood!

byhookorbycrook

OT lists are huge, roughly where in the country are you?

Some ideas below:

· Moulding and rolling play dough into balls - using the palms of the hands facing each other and with fingers curled slightly towards the palm.

· Rolling play dough into tiny balls (peas) using only the finger tips.

· Using pegs or toothpicks to make designs in play dough.

· Cutting play dough with a plastic knife or with a pizza wheel.

· Tearing newspaper into strips and then crumpling them into balls. Use to stuff scarecrow or other art creation.

· Scrunching up 1 sheet of newspaper in one hand. This is a super strength builder.

· Using a plant sprayer to spray plants, (indoors, outdoors) to spray snow (mix food colouring with water so that the snow can be painted), or melt "monsters". (Draw monster pictures with markers and the colours will run when sprayed.)

· Picking up objects using large tweezers such as those found in the "Bedbugs" game. This can be adapted by picking up Cheerios, small cubes, small marshmallows, pennies, etc., in counting games.

· Shaking dice by cupping the hands together, forming an empty air space between the palms.

· Using small-sized screwdrivers like those found in an erector set.

· Lacing and sewing activities such as stringing beads, Cheerios, macaroni, etc.

· Using eye droppers to "pick up" coloured water for colour mixing or to make artistic designs on paper.

· Rolling small balls out of tissue paper, then gluing the balls onto construction paper to form pictures or designs.

· Turning over cards, coins, checkers, or buttons, without bringing them to the edge of the table.

· Making pictures using stickers or self-sticking paper reinforcements.

· Playing games with the "puppet fingers" -the thumb, index, and middle fingers. Have each child's puppet fingers tell about what happened over the weekend, or use them in songs and finger plays.
· Bake cookies with your children. Stirring batter provides workout of the arms and muscles and cutting and spooning out cookies can improve hand-eye co-ordination. Besides, the children get to eat their creation as well.
· Show them their favourite CD on the computer and encourage them to help you put the CD in the CD Drive. They can also use the mouse and keyboard which improves finger, hand and eye co-ordination.
· Encourage your children to paint and draw. Alternate between thick and fine brushes. Another trick is to paint with a cotton swab, this improves the pincer grip which later on aids the child in writing.
· Play with building blocks such as Lego. Start with larger blocks and then move on to smaller blocks.
· Play connect the dots. Make sure the child's strokes connect dots from left to right, and from top to bottom.

· Trace around stencils - the non-dominant hand should hold the stencil flat and stable against the paper, while the dominant hand pushes the pencil firmly against the edge of the stencil. The stencil must be held firmly.

· Attach a large piece of felt to the wall, or use a felt board. The child can use felt shapes to make pictures. Magnetic boards can be used the same way.

· Have the child work on a chalkboard, using chalk instead of a marker. Do the same kinds of tracing and modelling activities as suggested above.

· Paint at an easel. Some of the modelling activities as suggested above can be done at the easel.
Scissor Activities
When scissors are held correctly, and when they fit a child's hand well, cutting activities will exercise the very same muscles which are needed to manipulate a pencil in a mature tripod grasp. The correct scissor position is with the thumb and middle finger in the handles of the scissors, the index finger on the outside of the handle to stabilize, with fingers four and five curled into the palm.
· Cutting junk mail, particularly the kind of paper used in magazine subscription cards.

· Making fringe on the edge of a piece of construction paper.

· Cutting play dough with scissors.

· Cutting straws or shredded paper.

harvester of sorrow

Were based in east cork....those are some great ideas mod,thanks a mill,must get her started on these today.
Thank you.

pac20

Hi,

If your daughter does have Dyspraxia, a programme called Primary Movement may help her greatly.

I was diagnosed at 14 and started the Primary Movement at 15 - it focuses on getting rid of the primary reflexes which should have already been lost - it greatly improves your co-ordination. You can look here for information : http://www.primarymovement.org/background/index.html

Other things I did in Occupational Therapy were practising making cups of tea, hop scotch, throwing and catching a ball, jumping on a trampoline, practicing painting in a straight line and spooning pasta from one jug to the other.

I found OT helpful but Primary Movement was the most beneficial to me. Now I am about to finish my degree and in spite of people's doubts have overcome all the obstacles and got to where I want to be. I hope this helps a little bit.

Redpunto

One of the main things we learned about the fine motor skills, especially in a school setting is that you need to work on the gross motor as well - so work away on the fine motor exercises but make sure she gets gross motor as well like swimming and playgrounds etc.