Fine Motor Skills and Handwriting

What are Fine Motor Skills? Fine motor skills are small movements — such as picking up small objects and holding a spoon — that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue. Gross motor skills are the bigger movements — such as rolling over and sitting — that use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso, and feet.

Development of Motor Skills Children develop motor skills in a head to toe direction. Children achieve control of joints closest to the body first. Control and stability of joints closest to the body is essential to allow controlled hand movements. Initial movements are “whole body” movements. Later children learn to move different parts of the body separately.

Development of Motor Skills When first grasping objects children will use the whole hand. All fingers are doing the same thing at the same time. With practise children will develop ability to use the thumb separately and in opposition to the fingers Further development produces individual finger movements for more refined, precise grasping.

An interesting fact about the hand… About a quarter of the motor cortex in the human brain (the part of the brain which controls all movement in the body) is devoted to the muscles of the hands.

Fine Motor Skills “Fine motor” refers to the movements we make with the small muscles of the hands. Children start to use their hands right at birth to explore their own bodies and the world around them. Their fine motor skills develop as their whole body starts to move and become more stable. They also learn to do more things with their hands as their cognitive and social/emotional skills improve.

Why are they important? Just as gross motor skills enable your child to perform important everyday tasks, such as getting out of bed and going downstairs for breakfast, fine motor skills allow for increasing independence in smaller but equally significant matters.

Fine Motor Skills in School… Some of the activities that require children to use their fine motor skills include: glue things onto paper clap hands button and unbutton work a zipper use Lego manipulate pencils and crayons well enough to colour, draw and begin to form recognisable letters cut out simple shapes with scissors

Activities to support Fine Motor Skills… Threading – beads onto string, pasta necklace Play dough - squeeze it, squash it, stretch it, flatten it and roll it – make cakes, sausages, worms, anything you like! Making patterns with pegs Using tweezers to pick things up Cutting - use scissors to cut along straight lines, then wavy lines, then around different shapes, find things you like in a catalogue.

Activities to support Fine Motor Skills… Pegging clothes onto a washing line Shredding paper Scrunching paper Undoing zips Picking a coin out of pasta using two fingers Water play – transfer water from one container to another just using a sponge – could be a bath time activity!

Fine Motor Skills and Handwriting

Pre-writing essentials… Stable Seated Posture Hand and Finger Strength In-hand manipulation Finger isolation Upper limb strength Crossing midline

It is tricky! Handwriting is a very complex task Understanding and planning each letter Motor planning to translate the thought (picture or letter) onto the page.

Why does pencil grip matter? Influences amount of finger movement available Determines amount of tension generated in the hand Fatigue of the hand Pain and Discomfort Speed and legibility of handwriting

The Tripod Grip

Developmental Pencil Grips Palmer supinate grip Most children start mark making by using the palm grip. The implement is held in the palm of the hand and the fingers curl around it to hold it in place. The movement is mainly controlled through the shoulder and wrist joints (gross motor) and children will typically make vertical, horizontal and round marks.

Developmental Pencil Grips Digital pronate grasp The next grip is often the digital pronate grasp, although not all children use this. The mark making implement in controlled by one digit, usually the index finger, and held in place by the thumb. To use this grasp the child needs to pivot from the wrist to get to the paper. Movement is limited and mark making is similar to that of the palm grip.

Developmental Pencil Grips The next stage is often the static tripod grip which is usually favoured by boys. The pencil is pushed right to the end of the fingers. The movement is controlled by the little finger and clamped in place by the thumb although all the digits are in contact with the pencil. With this grip it is difficult for the child to see the marks they are making which hinders correct letter formation.

Developmental Pencil Grips The triangulation grip is where the pencil is held between the forefinger and the thumb and supported from behind by the middle finger. Ideally only these three digits control the movement of the pencil. The movement (fine motor) is controlled by the joints of the fingers and thumb and allows for maximum range of movement and flexibility. This is the grip to aim for.

Pencil Pressure Too Much Pressure •Will slow writing down •Reduce the ability to use smooth and flowing movements when writing •Can result in pain or cramping in the hands or fingers Too Little Pressure •Poor control over pencil •Difficulty with letter formations •Faint handwriting which is difficult to read

Left Handers Writing with left hand is a different movement Writes towards the body and pushes the pencil Often have unusual hand and wrist positions Experience more pain in wrist and hand

Left Handers Position of Paper - tilt paper so top right corner is tilted towards child Position of arm and wrist Hand below the writing line Wrist straight

What is expected in Reception? We will support children to grasp pencil between thumb and pad of index finger. Marker rests on first joint of middle finger. This is not an automatic process and children will often need support to achieve it.