Hand in Hand

Fine Motor Skills 

 

Fine motor skills include movements made with the small muscles in your hands. This includes picking up, grasping, holding, releasing, and manipulating objects/toys. If your child is struggling with fine motor skills, they may have difficulty with the following:

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• Holding a pencil with an efficient grasp

• Holding utensils correctly  

• Picking up and rotating puzzle pieces or toys  

• Holding and using scissors

• Manipulating buttons, zippers, and snaps on clothing

• Tying and lacing shoes

• Coloring, drawing, and tracing

• Drawing prewriting shapes (lines, circles, squares, triangles) 

• Handwriting - including legibility, writing on the line, spacing between letters/words, and the way they write their letters and numbers (letter/number formation)

• Difficulty establishing a hand dominance

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Gross Motor Skills (movement, balance, and coordination)

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Gross motor skills involve our large muscles and whole body movements. This includes movements of our arms, legs, and trunk. Children who have difficulty with gross motor skills may have: 

• Poor balance 

• Difficulty with coordination including skipping, jumping, animal walks, and jumping jacks 

• Going up and down stairs  

• Poor ball skills (throwing, catching, throwing at a target) 

• Difficulty crossing midline (reaching with one hand across midline of the body to pick up or perform a task) 

• Delays with head control, crawling, rolling, sitting unsupported, pulling to stand, or walking 

• Raising arms overhead 

• Low muscle tone (poor posture, tires easily) 

• Hypertonia (decreased movement, stiff) 

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Visual Perception

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Visual perception is how we use to make sense of what we see. Children who have difficulty with visual processing may experience the following:  

• Difficulty with handwriting - including difficulty with spacing between words or letters, difficulty writing on the line, and difficulty with correct sizing and letter formation when writing letters/words

• Recognizing letters and numbers 

• Reversals when writing letters and/or numbers 

• Difficulty copying shapes or letters

• Visually tracking objects (following objects with your eyes including up/down and side to side) 

• Finding objects with a competing background (ex: finding a pencil or eraser in a messy drawer)

• Copying from the board or from another piece of paper (may lose their place often or have errors when copying) 

• Reading 

• Difficulty with eye contact 

• Difficulty focusing on important information and identifying differences or similarities in objects

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Eating and Feeding Difficulties 

 

Children may have problems with eating and feeding, which may include the following:

• Oral motor difficulties - movements of the face, lips, tongue, and jaw 

• Oral sensory difficulties - picky eating, limiting to only a few food textures and pocketing food in their mouth while eating 

• Difficulty eating from or feeding themselves with utensils  

• Difficulty chewing food 

• Excessive drooling

• Difficulty drinking from a cup (open cup, sippy cup, or straw cup) 

• Losing a  large amounts of liquid or food from their mouth 

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Attention  

 

Some signs that your child may have difficulty with attention may include the following: 

• Difficulty sitting still demonstrated by fidgeting, squirming or frequently getting up to wander around the room 

• Easily distracted by something they see or hear 

• Frequent meltdowns

• Difficulty with changes in routine 

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Play 

 

Play is a child's primary occupation. Play is how children learn to make sense of their world. Children learn many skills through play including problem solving, motor skills, and social skills. Your child may need help developing their play skills if you notice any of the following: 

• Relies on you or another adult to help to initiate play

• Difficulty paying attention 

• Engaging in repetitive play activities for long periods (lining up blocks) 

• Difficulty imitating play (copy or mimic another person during play including rocking a baby) 

• Not wanting or refusing to play with siblings or peers 

Social Skills 

Social skills include problem solving, empathy, sharing, listening, following directions, generosity, team work, patience, helpfulness, respecting boundaries, and conflict resolution. Some signs your child may have delays include:

• Difficulty interacting with others - prefers to play alone 

• Difficulty making friends 

• Difficulty understanding facial expressions 

• Difficulty with new and unfamiliar places 

• Delayed speech and language skills

• Focuses on one subject for a long time

• Difficulty coping with emotions and learning challenges

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Behaviors 

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Occupational therapy can help children learn to regulate their behavior as well as manage stress and anxiety in order to help them be able to respond more positively to their environment. Children may experience the following: ​

• Frequent meltdowns/tantrums 

• Difficulty with changes in routine 

• Poor frustration tolerance 

• Difficulties with sensory processing 

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Sensory Processing Difficulties 

 

Everyday we process information we receive from our senses including sight, vision, smell, taste, and touch. We also receive information from our vestibular sense regarding movement and balance and our proprioceptive sense from our muscles and joints. All of our senses work together to provide us with information about our body and our environment. 

 

Occupational therapists can help identify how your child processes and responds to various types of sensory input. Once these are identified, strategies can be implemented to help address these difficulties. One of these strategies may include a sensory diet which is designed for your individual child by an occupational therapist. Research has found that difficulty processing sensory input has an impact on a child’s ability to complete or participate in every day activities. Sensory experiences are important because they help children learn and develop a connection with the world. It is harder for children who have difficulties processing sensory input to interact and learn from their world. They may have difficulty responding appropriately to sensory input and staying focused on activities they want or need to complete throughout their day.

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Difficulties in sensory processing may include but are not limited to the following: 

• Difficulty with attention 

• Difficulty eating or trying new foods (gags with new foods/textures, refuses to try new foods, very limited diet) 

• Difficulty grading the appropriate amount of force when performing an activity (too rough) 

• Stays on the go 

• Difficulty tolerating loud noises or busy places 

• Easily distracted 

• Difficulty with messy play or oblivious to hands/face being messy 

• Difficulty tolerating various fabrics/clothes  

• Clumsy 

• Poor safety awareness 

 

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