Cutting, coloring, painting, gluing, buttoning, zipping, snapping, tying, writing, and typing - all of these involve fine motor skills. Our hands are the "tools" we use to play, complete schoolwork and complete self care tasks.
Effective use of our hands for fine motor tasks depends on Feedback from our senses, Intellect, eNdurance, and the use of our Eyes.
All of these things contribute to the development of good fine motor skills. When one of these isn't working quite right, your child may have a tough time completing schoolwork or self care. An occupational therapist at Child and Family Development can evaluate your child to assess which of these area(s) may need a little extra work to help your child better function at school, home, and in the community.
Effective use of our hands for fine motor tasks depends on Feedback from our senses, Intellect, eNdurance, and the use of our Eyes.
- Feedback: Proprioceptive (awareness of our muscles and joints) and tactile (touch) sensory processing give us feedback on what our hands are doing. This feedback helps us identify what we are touching, use and hold tools (pencil, scissors, fork, spoon) correctly, and regulate the force we are using (pencil pressure).
- Intellectual: Our mind helps us focus on, gain knowledge about, and remember/recall what we are doing. This helps us acquire and build upon our fine motor skills.
- eNdurance: We need strong muscles in our hands and fingers as well as in our back and tummy (core and postural muscles). In order to coordinate our hands and fingers, we need to be stable and comfortable sitting in our chair or standing. That is, we need to be able to focus on what our hands are doing and not worry about holding ourselves upright. This is referred to as "proximal stability for distal mobility".
- Eyes: We also need our vision. The eyes "drive" the hands. When we combine what we see with what we feel, we learn about what is around us and are then able to figure out how things work.
All of these things contribute to the development of good fine motor skills. When one of these isn't working quite right, your child may have a tough time completing schoolwork or self care. An occupational therapist at Child and Family Development can evaluate your child to assess which of these area(s) may need a little extra work to help your child better function at school, home, and in the community.
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