Occupational Therapy: Developing Fine Motor Skills to Successfully Impact Transition to School
Development of the ability to isolate your index or pointer finger is an important early stage in the development of gross grasp and early prehension.
Isolating fingers in sequence is a skill that older children acquire, usually before 5 years of age. Finger isolation is a needed skill before other manipulation skills can be gained as well as being essential for the development of pincer grip patterns. Children begin using their hands as a unit, where all their fingers move together at approximately the same time.
Being able to use your fingers individually develops into the ability to hold and control a crayon, button and unbutton their jacket, play with toys, pick up finger foods, push buttons or levers on toys, point to what they want or to help tell you something.
Being able to use your fingers individually impacts a child’s transition to day-care and school based activities. A child who struggles with fine motor skills will more than likely find that they struggle throughout the day’s tasks and routines.
This book, “Developing Fine Motor Skills to Successfully Impact Transition to School,” covers the following:
Introduction
Fine Motor Skill Development Impacts Transition to School
Main Physical Components Involved in Functional Fine Motor Performance
Daily School-based Activities Where Fine Motor Skills Are Important
Common Signs a Child May Be Demonstrating Difficulty with Fine Motor Development
Fine Motor Skill Development Activities and Ideas
Fine motor Early Grasp Activities for Varying Levels of Readiness (From Ready Now to the Need for Moderate - Maximum Assist)
Craft Activities That Promote Fine Motor and Isolated Digit Action
Specific Fine Motor Development Activities Geared for Children That Have Max to Severe Needs
Seek and Find Sensory Rice Box for Fine Motor
Make Coloring a Whole New Adventure and Learning Experience
Using Play-Dough as a Therapeutic Tool for Fine Motor Development
Author, Judy Benz Duncan has been an Occupational Therapist for over thirty years. She has worked with children from infants to teenagers in numerous settings that included early intervention, pre-school programs, grade school, home health, developmental training centers, and sensory integration clinics.
Judy developed the foundation for designing therapeutic activities and tasks using interactive play and creative imagination to engage the children at a level they could easily relate to while working toward the achievement of their Occupational Therapy program’s functional goals and treatment plan
Judy attended the University of Florida, University of Kansas, and the University of Tennessee. She received New York State approval as a Supplemental Evaluator for OT with early intervention and pre-school students, and has helped develop and start an OT program for families and children in New York. Judy continues to stay up-to-date in the clinical field through mentoring other OT students and new graduates.
She continues to contribute to children, families and professionals everywhere through her professional writing endeavors which include writing books and manuals, managing the therapeutic website, TheraPlay4Kids.com, writing OT blogs and topic-specific articles, working on "interactive story play" book series, writing bi-weekly professional blogs for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon group, a psychiatrist, and an attorney at law. She continues to be an active mentor of new OT graduates, as well as OT students.
