We expect a lot out of our kids.  Handwriting becomes so automatic that we don’t realize how many components go into learning it.  It is important for parents, teachers and individuals know what these precursors are so that handwriting can be possible. When we know what the fundamentals of handwriting are, we see improvements with handwriting. It is important to make sure children have a strong foundation before diving into writing with a writing utensil. In fact, most occupational therapists that get referrals for kids struggling with handwriting work on a laundry list of items before ever placing a pencil in a child’s hand after the initial assessment. 

This series of blog posts will be an excellent starting point for parents and educators to gather information to help the children you work with every day. Each of the below topics could truly be an entire blog post covering each area at length, but we tried to summarize some key points the best we could today. 

Fundamentals for Handwriting… 

Fine Motor Skills– Fine motor skills are the skills that require fluid movements of the small muscles in the hand and wrist. Children need to develop strength in the hands and wrists. They also need precision in the fingertips in order to prepare for handwriting. Here are just a few of our go to activities:

• Playdoh is always an excellent base to work on rolling dough, cutting dough, pushing cookie cutters, etc while working the tiny muscles in the hands
• Set up activities where the child needs to use clothes pins, tongs, tweezers (make sure fingers are rounding and opposed while holding equipment).
• String beads, lace cards, place pegs on board while holding pegs in hand
• Vertical surface activities like finger painting on an easel or putting stickers or window clings on a vertical paper taped to wall/window work on proper wrist and finger position naturally
• Focus on your child having the opportunity to color, draw, and paint using small writing utensils 

Visual Motor Skills– Visual-motor skills are helpful for performing a variety of daily tasks and activities that involve both fine and gross motor skills. Being able to plan and execute movements based on what you see is called visual-motor integration. Children need to have practice using these skills without pen and paper. A few of our go to activities include:

• Start with copying pre-writing strokes (horizontal line, vertical line, circle, and cross). Utilize a multisensory approach before moving to writing letters on paper such as with sand, whip cream, salt, bird seed, rice, pudding, shaving cream, etc. 
• Balloon toss to work on eye-hand coordination 
• Building with blocks (increase the challenge by building a simple design and see if your child can copy it)
• Simple puzzles that are age appropriate

Posture and Core Stability- This is the absolute first area we tend to look at when kids are demonstrating a delay in fine motor skills. A strong core improves a child’s ability to sit upright in a chair, improves fine motor skills, makes crossing midline less challenging, makes activities like running, riding a bike, climbing, throwing a ball much easier and motor planning clicks. A child that has a weak core, shoulder complex, and poor posture often struggles with fine motor and visual motor skills. A few of our favorite core strength activities include:

• Perform animal walks:  bear walk, crab walk, hop like a bunny, jump like a frog, slither like a snake, 
• Playground activities: hang from monkey bars, swing while working on pumping legs to swing unassisted, climbing on equipment, walk on a balance beam
• Indoor obstacle course 
• Riding a balance bike, scooter, or bike

Attention and Focus- Children are not born programmed to have a long attention span. This is something that evolves over time and takes creativity as a parent and teacher to find the happy medium when teaching new skills. All children benefit from multi-sensory learning approaches that allow them to have hands-on learning opportunities while getting their wiggles out. The best way to work on fine motor, visual motor, and core strength is through play! Kids attend, learn, and retain skills best when playing. When working with kids on table top activities, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Keep the environment as calm as possible
• Provide short and frequent breaks from seated activities if you notice your child struggling to maintain an upright position in the chair, become fidgety or frustrated, or uninterested in tasks
• Be sure the child’s seat fits them properly. Their feet should be able to be flat on the floor.
• Break the activity into stages. (task breakdown) 

If your child is struggling in any of the areas discussed, reach out for a consultation with our occupational therapists. The best time to address these skills is in our toddler and preschool kiddos, but we also make great gains with elementary age children as well. These are excellent skills to work on over summer break to give your child the foundational skills needed to succeed! Remember…children can benefit from OT services with or without a diagnosis to work on things that may be holding them back from reaching their full potential. 

Check out the next blog of the handwriting series. You will find tips and tricks to help your child when they are handwriting. https://conquertherapyservices.com/2022/04/10/tips-and-tricks-for-struggling-handwriters/