Fine Motor Skills At The Levels School
Fine motor control is the ability to use the hands and fingers accurately whilst carrying out a skilled activity, involving the coordination and control of the small muscles in the hands and fingers.
The aim of the Fine Motor Skills group is focused on developing and improving fine motor control in order to help students improve their daily function both within school and at home.
Successful and efficient fine motor control includes a huge variety of skills. As children develop and explore, they learn where and how their fingers are moving in space. They develop their sense of touch, learning textures, pain, heat, cold, etc. They also learn how to use both hands and arms together to help make a task more efficient. This might include holding paper with one hand whilst writing on the paper with the other, or using scissors or a knife and fork. All these activities need use of both hands to be successful.
Fine motor skills also involves development of hand strength and visual spatial perception (judging the size, shape and distance of objects).
In order to undertake many fine motor activities – such as writing, playing games, model building and dressing, we also have to be able to organise, plan and carry out a sequence of unfamiliar motor tasks through watching and doing the task ourselves.
At The Levels School, our Prep students attend a weekly fine motor skills group run by one of our specialist Occupational Therapists. The students are screened initially to establish a baseline and intervention is offered to those who need it depending on the screening outcome. The Fine Motor session aims at developing skills through a variety of activities carried out within the group which focus on all aspects of fine motor function and manual dexterity.
The Fine Motor Skills group is part of the student provision for those students whose assessment scores indicate need and the cost is included within the school fees.
Downloadable Resources
If you're looking to support your child's fine motor skills at home, try these free downloadable resources made by our in-house therapy team.
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