Fine Motor

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, commonly in activities like using pencils, scissors, constructing with lego or Duplo, doing up buttons, and opening lunch boxes.

Fine motor skill efficiency significantly influences the quality of the task outcome as well as the speed of task performance. Efficient fine motor skills require a number of independent skills to work together to appropriately manipulate the object or perform the task.

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Why are fine motor skills important?

Fine motor skills are essential for performing everyday skills as outlined above as well as academic skills. Without the ability to complete these everyday tasks, a child’s self-esteem can suffer, their academic performance is compromised and their play options are very limited. They are also unable to develop appropriate independence in ‘life’ skills (such as getting dressed and feeding themselves) which in turn has social implications not only within the family but also within peer relationships.

How can you tell if a child has fine motor skill difficulties at a glance?

• Avoidance and/or disinterest of fiddly finger skills (and has tasks listed above)

• Preferring physical activity (again to avoid sit down tasks)

• Interest in ‘passive’ activities such as IT (e.g. watching TV an IPAD that don’t require Fine Motor skills)

• No interest in pencil or scissors skills

• Being ‘bossy’ in play and asking others to “draw a cat for me”

• Not persisting in the face of a challenge (e.g. asking parents to fix a problem without physically trying to fix it themselves)

• Waiting for parents to dress them or clean their teeth rather than trying themselves

• Refusal to use the stylus with the IPAD

What is behavior?

Behavior refers to how one conducts themselves. It is their actions, reactions, and functioning in response to everyday environments and situations. Challenging behavior is a term used to describe behavior that interferes with a child’s daily life. Managing children’s behavior is essential in maintaining order and structure in the lives of busy families, as well as setting children up for success.

It is important to be aware that behavioral difficulties can often be indicative of difficulties/delays in other areas including self-regulation, sensory processing, receptive and/or expressive language, executive functioning, social skills, and planning skills.

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Behavior includes:

• Self-regulation: the ability to obtain, maintain and change emotion, behavior, attention, and activity level appropriate for a task or situation.

• Sensory processing: accurate processing of sensory stimulation in the environment as well as in one’s own body.

• Executive Functioning: higher-order reasoning and thinking skills

• Emotional Development/regulation: involves the ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions, and regulate emotions.

Why is behavior important?

• Health and quality of life: Challenging behavior may seriously affect a child and parent/caregiver's health and quality of life.

• Reduce risk: Some risks associated with challenging behavior include self-injurious behavior (including ingestion or inhalation of foreign bodies, hitting head on the floor, or throwing a body on the floor) can result in serious injuries. Accidental injury is also a common issue in children with aggressive behavior, not only for them but also for the parents and caregivers involved.

• Dietary deficiencies: oppositional behavior may result in dietary deficiencies, weight loss, or gross obesity.

• Social isolation: Challenging behavior can often lead to social isolation.

• School transition: social isolation is likely to impact his sense of well-being and transition to school.

• Reduce mental health issues: Research also suggests that lack of social skills can lead to loneliness and depression from an early age.

• Maturity: How a person behaves is a direct reflection of their maturity.