If handwriting and fine motor skills are goals for your child’s OT, their fine motor skills will be assessed prior to a treatment plan being developed.
Fine motor skills involve the coordination of hand and finger muscles, bones and nerves to produce small, exact movements to result in efficient hand use. Areas included in the assessment are below:
– crossing the midline: ability for our hands to reach across the other side of the body
– joint stability: stable joints are important for fine motor control. Joints with greater flexibility / the ability to extend beyond the normal range, are called “hypermobile”. These joints have reduced stability and decreased fine motor control.
– in-hand manipulation: ability to move objects around inside the hand
– muscle tone: provides the hand’s underlying stability. Increased tone there is decreased mobility and flexibility. Decreased tone there is decreased joint stability
– pincer grasp: used for grasping smaller objects between the index finger and thumb.
Handwriting is a very complex skill for children to master. It requires the integration of many skills including fine motor skills (above), gross motor skills (postural stability and endurance), sensory and perceptual skills (visually interpreting and remembering letter formations), cognition (attention, memory, knowledge, planning, problem solving) and language skills. These skill areas will also be included in the OT assessment if they are indicated to be impacting upon function, please click on the relevant areas in the top drop down menu for more information.
At AIM Therapy, we take great pride in delivering Occupational Therapy services as unique as your child from Assessment to Intervention to Meeting of goals. If you would like more information about our services or would like to go ahead with a booking, we welcome you to contact us 6150 8339 or hello@aimtherapy.com.au.
