Fine motor skills

My boys are starting kindergarten this year. Will has some fine motor issues. It's painful to watch him write or draw. It just's just so hard for him. He holds the pen (or whatever) very awkwardly and it's hard for him to write properly. His pre-K teachers and I have tried to help him but that just made him more frustrated. Anyways, my main worry right now is the button, snap, zipper on his pants. They wear a uniform to school so the pants have a button that is really hard for him to button (any button is). Plus, with his size (6/7) they don't make a lot of elastic waist dress pants (I don't think they make any!). I was able to find navy blue shorts with an elastic waist that I hope I can get away with (technically not the uniform ones). I'm so worried about him having to go to the bathroom and not be able to do his pants!

Anyone else have little ones with similar issues? Anything that you've done that is helpful?

 

What about using a hook & loop closure with the button sewn on the front? I've seen pants like these in toddler sizes and I think regular, buttoned pants could be modified in this way with minimal sewing skills. I'd also work on finding fun ways for him to improve his fine motor skills. There are toys and games that you could play with him that would help and he wouldn't even realize he was practicing. For example, T&T have Lite Brites. Those little pegs are awesome because they have to use a pinch grip to pick them up. Does he use a pencil grip? We use some squishy, fun-colored grips that I found on Amazon and they do help.

 

I can't believe I forgot our favorite -- piggy. The boys have a small piggy bank with a slender slot. I empty the bank on the table and they put the coins back in the slot (similar to putting a button in a button hole). We also play games with the coins that include addition and subtraction and pattern recognition.

 

Thanks for the ideas. His teacher also recommended games (like you piggy bank idea) to help with that so we've been working on it. At first she was correcting ho w he was holding the crayon/pen/etc but because he was growing increasingly frustrated she kind of back-tracked and focused on just getting the concepts of how to make the letters. He can make them, they are just HUGE. He kind of holds it with three fingers...I can't even describe it. Same thing with counting. When he holds up two fingers to represent "2", he uses his ring finger and middle finger instead of his index finger and middle finger. Then for three he'll add the pinky instead of the index finger. I'm beginning to wonder if there is something going on with his tendons or something because his fingers don't seem to be able to do it "normally".

Good idea about the buttons. I think my mom or MIL could come up with something.

 

When I taught kinder I had an after school class that focused on fine motor intervention. Listed below are the activities we worked on, and were given to me by an occupational therapist.

• Rolling playdough into tiny balls using only finger tips
• Tearing paper into small pieces and making a mosaic picture
• Lacing and sewing activities such as stringing beads
• Rolling small balls out of tissue paper, then gluing the balls onto construction paper to form pictures or designs
• Paint at an easel or tape a piece of paper to the wall
• Finger painting or playing with shaving cream (use a cookie tray to put the paint/shaving cream on, then the student can practice making shapes and letters)
• Stringing small beads or pieces of cut straws onto lanyard lace
• Hiding objects in playdough or silly putty
• Rolling out playdough like a tortilla and practice cutting with a butter knife
• Making snakes out of playdough and practice cutting with scissors or pinching flat
• Using clothespins, tongs, or tweezers to pick up cotton balls, rubber bands, beads buttons, coins, shoelaces, etc.
• Pushing pennies, buttons, or beads through a small opening in the top of a container (coffee cans work great!)
• Peeling stickers off backing and placing onto a picture (vary the size of the stickers so different muscles have to work
• Taking clothing off dolls and putting it back on
• Playing the following games: Connect 4, Operation, Small Legos or K-Nex,
Playing cards (have student practice holding 3-4 cards in one hand like a fan), Jenga, Aggravation/Chinese Checkers

We also suggested doing some of these exercises while on the tummy, propped up on the elbows. This position works on increasing head control, neck extension against gravity, and shoulder stability.

As for the pants...we have the same problem with my son and he has pretty decent fine motor control. We had had good luck at Carter's finding elastic waisted pants.

 

If its to hard to get the button thru the hole you might enlarge the button hole a bit too. A bit tricky because if you get it too big it wont stay closed. Can he do snaps easier? You could sew the button whole up and stitch the button to the top and put a snap or velco under it for the closure.

My jessy refuses to wear denim pants, so we have gone to pretty much all pull on. We even have a pair of demin looking pants that are leggings

 

Can you request an evaluation for fine motor?? The school could have an OT work with him on handwriting/button/zip/etc. I know that at age 5-- my girls were expected to be able to do a large button, zip, draw a circle/cross/and attempt a square and triangle, cut a line/large wavy line, write their name, put on & close their coats/backpacks, do a small puzzle, use a tripod grasp on writing, and a few other fine motor things. They also have pencil grips/larger diameter pencils that can help with 'grip' issues---I would look into the schools resources.

The local teacher store also sells 'textured' paper that has 'bumps' on the lines, they can be progressively smaller to help make writing the correct age size and help kids 'feel' how large to write.

Your insurance may also cover some OT sessions to help. I know we had private OT during the summer and before my DD qualified through the schools. They worked on fine motor skills in addition to a few other things.

My girls will be in a private school that is funded by the state for PreK (voluntary PreK program). The local school will provide OT & PT to one of my DDs.

As for the uniform. I would simply sew on the button (for decoration) and place a discrete piece of velcro or a large snap on the inside so he can fasten/open it himself- but it would still fullfil the uniform requirements.


As PP suggested activities that could help. Does he like legos? Play Doh? snap beads? finger painting? Tracing ? stencils?

 

Thanks so much for all the ideas! I'm going to try this week to try harder sitting with them and doing a project. I've found it difficult with the other kiddos as Becca tends to get in the way and the baby is, well, a baby I think I'll try it during afternoon nap time. We'll all miss our "quiet" time but this may be more important.

They are at a private school as well so I'm not exactly sure what resources are available there. As soon as I figure out which kindergarten teacher they have, I'll have a little conference with her.

 

Our kinder did an evaluation of all the kids before school started to get a feel for where they were on things. Timothy was behind on fine motor, but we were aware of it already. They just confirmed it. He had previously been in art classes that helped. His writing improved quite a bit throughout the year.

Going into first this year, they recommended that we work with him through the summer on hand strength and fine motor. He loves bowling so we've done that quite a bit. I figure that learning to handle and roll a 6 lb. ball with control is good for hand strength. He's also started learning how to shoot baskets in the driveway. But I think the biggest thing is, I've started teaching him piano. He'll sit and practice the piano quite a bit. I saw holding cards on the list and we've done that alot. He did some writing for his grandmother a few weeks ago and Timothy's writing had noticably improved over the summer doing other things with his hands.

Timothy still pretty much refuses to do buttons on pants. Children's Place has a lot of pants with adjustable waist. Timothy is very skinny, so I just set the waist so that he can pull them up and down without doing the button. I'm know they have a uniform line.

Marissa

 

Since they are in private school, they may not do an evaluation like the public schools do--private schools are not required to deal with special needs. You may want to go ahead and check with your insurance to find out what you need to get an OT eval, and do it on your own, that is the quickest way to get started anyway. Even if you were in a private school it might be months before they would get an eval started anyway.

 

Your comment on the private school NOT being required to deal with special needs is NOT correct!

Click here to see laws

The child is technically in a public school district (even though they attend private school) the public school usually is responsible for the services that are needed. There are MANY, MANY laws in place for this....the child MUST be given services if they qualify....the school district has a limited time (it might be 10 days?) to respond.

This should help too

Check with the private school first (request in writing) that you would like him evaluated....they then must follow through. It becomes a legal case QUICKLY if they don't follow through.

 

Have your sons received services at the public school while attending the private school? Was is helpful or not helpful because it wasn't really part of "their" school?

 

One of my boys has fine motor issues too. Some of the pants from the Gap have a waist closure with a tab that slides into a hook that is very easy to manipulate. I know they have it on both jeans and chinos, so maybe those would work for uniform pants. I think that particular type of closure goes up to size 8.