Fine Motor Skills

Grasps

1. Palmar Grasp - pencil positioned across palm and held with fisted hand, wrist slightly flexed, using full arm movement
2. Digital Pronate Grasp - pencil positioned in the palm, placing fingers in a downwards position and is held by index finger and thumb, using mostly arm movement
3. Tripod Grasp - 3 finger grasp using thumb and index finger with the pencil resting on the middle finger
4. Quadrupod Grasp - 4 finger grasp using thumb, index and middle finger with the pencil resting on the 4th finger
5. Thumb Wrap - thumb wraps around fingers reducing web space

 

Pencil Skills

• Handwriting is a complex skill that requires the integration of postural stability, hand eye coordination, organisation, differentiation, sequencing, memory, perceptual skills, motor planning, language skills and cognitive functions
• Encourage your child to complete shapes such as a vertical line, horizontal line, circle, cross, square, diagonal lines and a triangle as the basis for pre-writing skills
• Use of wide pens for better positioning, ease of grip and comfort
• Trialling different pencil grips that facilitates a functional grasp allowing your child to correctly form letters and develop their handwriting
• Using lined or squared paper to help encourage correct height, size and spacing of letters and words
• Align the paper with the forearm of the hand using to write.
• Use of different materials and textures (e.g. pencils, crayons, chalks, pastels, and paint; use of different paper, and surfaces e.g. forming letters on steamed up windows, writing on someone's back, writing letters in the air and using sand paper) This will encourage the child to use multiple senses to learn letter formation, by providing feedback for pencil control and line placement
• Doodles, fluency patterns, drawing and colouring, and pen and paper games are all good ways of helping a child to develop the skills and abilities needed for letter formation and handwriting
• Use visual cues to guide the correct starting point, direction and finishing point
• Encourage self-evaluation by allowing the individual to look and see how closely the letter formation matches the target letter, encourage them to circle the best formed letters based on their targets or set criteria

Please see the table below for general data on the average letters per minute:

Average letters per minute per child's age

Age:	Letters Per Minute:
6	18
7	28
8	36
9	45
10	52
11	60
12	67
13	75

 

Scissor Skills

Stages of scissor skill development:

• Correctly holding scissors
• Holding paper whilst snipping
• Cutting across paper. Start with narrow strips of card then gradually introduce larger pieces of card
• Cutting along a straight line. Start with a thick line gradually introducing a narrower line
• Cutting along a curved line
• Cutting around simple shapes (square, circle, oval, triangle)
• Cutting around simple shapes with corners and curves (moon, heart, star)

There are different types of scissors that can be used to help develop your child's hand strength and make the task of cutting easier. These include:

• Bounce back scissors
• Mounted / table top scissors
• Easy grip scissors
• Long loop scissors
• Dual control scissors

 

Useful links

• Hand Control - Kid Sense Child Development
• The OT Toolbox- Occupational Therapy Activities and Resources
• Fun Learning Activities To Boost Your Child's Development
• Help for early years providers : Fine motor skills