Fine and Gross Motor Skills Delay
By Miss Navarro and Miss Phillips
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What are fine and gross motor skills delay?
What are fine and gross motor skills delay?
Gross motor activities are big movements that use the arms, legs and torso (middle of the body). Fine motor activities are small movements like holding a crayon or picking up small objects. Children can have a delay in gross motor skills, fine motor skills or both. Children grow and develop on their own schedules.
Examples of fine motor skills:
If your child has a delay in fine motor skills, they may find the following activities challenging:
Holding/ handling small items (such as scissors and beads).
Drawing, painting, writing (holding pencils).
Turning the pages of a book.
Cutting, pasting and folding.
Eating (for example: lifting a spoon).
Building with blocks and playing with small objects (such as lego).
Self-care tasks such as dressing, buttoning, tying shoelaces and brushing teeth.
Examples of gross motor skills:
Walking, running, jumping, going up and down stairs, getting out of bed.
If your child has a delay in gross motor skills, they may present the following behaviours:
They are not interested in physical activities that their friends are happy to do, and may try to avoid them, or purposefully mess up the activity to mask they are having a hard time doing them.
They are happy to tell other children how to do activities (such as catch a ball), but they won't take part themselves.
Coordination issues, such as poor hand-eye coordination.
Some children with motor skills difficulties tent to hold their breath to stabilise their body. This takes their inner/outer core muscles offline and actually contributes to a decrease in balance.
All children are different, and may have a delay in fine or gross motor skills, or both. Some children with a fine motor skill delay will enjoy outdoor, gross motor skills activities, but avoid quiet, table-like activities like writing and drawing.
What strategies can be used to support children with fine and gross motor delays in school and at home?
What strategies can be used to support children with fine and gross motor delays in school and at home?
Head outside
Head outside
Encourage your children to play outside more. Some activities include:
Running and climbing outside will help with endurance and strengthening.
Tunnels, ladders, swings and slides, riding bikes, playing on scooters, playing hopscotch, or rollerblading will all provide your child with skills needed for strength, balance, and endurance.
Swimming is also a fantastic full body exercise, great for coordination training and endurance building.
Get the whole family involved! Try taking walks, bike rides, or jogs together.
Stay active
Stay active
Play organised sports, dance, karate, and gymnastics classes to target balance and coordination in the school-aged child.
Play organised sports, dance, karate, and gymnastics classes to target balance and coordination in the school-aged child.
Breathing
Breathing
Encourage your child to talk or sing as they are doing any activity that involves motor skills.
Practise their skills little and often
Practise their skills little and often
It is helpful to find a small amount of time every day, be it in the morning or after school, to practise fine motor skills. It is better if these are active, such as playing with Play-doh or making something together.
Combine the senses
Combine the senses
Gross motor skills involves the sensory systems as well as the motor system. So ways to include rhythm, vision and balance into games could be standing on a cushion, singing a song and playing catch with beanbags coordinated with the beat involves many of the senses.
Use visual prompts
Use visual prompts
Some children need help remembering how to do tasks and need them to be broken down. Watch the video above which explains this, and follow the links at the bottom of the page for downloads on brushing teeth and getting dressed.
Top Tips
Top Tips
Practice problem solving - If your child isn’t successful with a skill, try asking how they think they could practice, what other strategy they could follow it can help them they learn the task much better.
Emotion rule - before you begin gross motor activity, consider what your child needs to be calm and emotionally organise.
Repeat, repeat, repeat. Frequent practice is needed to learn a skill, and REMEMBER: It’s much more important that your child enjoys whatever it is that he or she chooses than trying to choose for them.
Frequently Asked Questions & Further Reading
Frequently Asked Questions & Further Reading
What are the best motor skills test to evaluate my child?
What are the best motor skills test to evaluate my child?
How much physical activity does my child need each day?
How much physical activity does my child need each day?
Infants should engage in active play for short periods of time several times a day.
Toddlers should engage in at least 30 minutes of structured activity (skill practice), and at least 60 minutes to several hours of unstructured play.
Pre-schoolers should engage in at least 60 minutes of structured activity and at least 60 minutes to several hours of unstructured play.
How can I best help my child develop physical skills?
How can I best help my child develop physical skills?
Play with your child every day. You can also help by providing an environment at home conducive to physical activity, be it a large indoor area with furniture moved aside, an outdoor lawn.
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