I just want to start off with a discussion about whether fine motor skill development is important to be taught in schools or should schools focus more on building academic skills?

If you do think fine motor skill development is important, what motor skills do we think are necessary to succeed later in school

Which one is more important at 3 or 4 years old? Being able to write your name or being able to tie your shoe? Being able to read on a kindergarten level or being able to button your coat and zip your pants?

Many of the motor skills we develop during the early childhood ages are expected to be fully developed by age 6 and are not a major focus in classrooms after 3rd grade. How can learning be effected if these skills are delayed?

Today I want to focus on fine motor development and how important the development these skills are to our lively hood and also to show all of the different things we think are insignificant have a major impact on development

-Muscle Development: Fine motor development focuses on small intricate muscles, joints, and nerves in the hands, eyes, and mouth.

-Adaptive skills or self help skills are the first learned skills that help us take care of ourselves these are the skills that help us dress our self, feed our self, and use the bathroom by our self.

-Research has shown that fine motor skills play a major part in cognitive ability. They are the bases for majority of learning (controlling eye movement for reading, controlling lips, tongue and jaw movement for speaking, and controlling hand, wrist, and forearm movement for writing)

In order to get to the point that a child is able to tie a shoe or cut out an object or write its important that they first develop these 3 skills that are supportive skills for fine motor

Stability- is necessary for a child to be able to properly balance and control their body movements

Bilateral coordination-is important when a child needs to be able to use one hand for the action and the other for support such as when cutting a piece of paper. This skill will help a child develop hand dominance

Sensation- A child needs to know and feel where their hands, arms and fingers are and what they are doing. Sensation will help a child develop dexterity so that they can accurately open small bottles, pick up tiny objects, stack together blocks etc.

Infants begin to develop the strength of their grasp which is important just for basic hand strength for later in life>>>
to hold toys, bottles, pick up food, put on clothing etc.

toe flexes are the first steps babies take towards walking. Clenching and flexing toes will help develop the muscles in the toes that are necessary for balance when they begin walking

suckling is a natural instinct that babies are born with it can be considered one of the first of the fine motor skills that is developed because it is necessary for survival. In the womb babies will suck their thumb preparing the muscles of their mouth to begin to feed from their mothers when they are born

rocking on their stomachs when they are preparing to crawl not only strengthens the leg and thigh muscles which is more so gross motor development but it also stretches the tissues and muscles in the hands and wrists allowing for better movement and muscle growth

Many strategies or practices that were thought to be helpful or not a "big deal" actually can have a very negative impact on fine motor development

Big pencils have been used for years for beginner writers but research has shown that this is not a best practice. Big pencils do not help children develop the pinch that they need to be able to hold a regular pencils which is much smaller

"Mouse hand"- is a term that has recently been introduced because of our technology generation... many children begin school and are not able to make an "o" form needed for a grip because their hand muscle is under developed from using computer mouses and iPad and computer pads that have the "o" relaxed and not used so because children do not have the muscle strength developed in their hands necessary for fine motor development their learning can become delayed

sitting at desks to write- actually can create a bad form of wrist and hand motion when writing because most children dont have the height to properly sit at a table comfortable to write and also because they are just learning to write they can try to accomodate that need for comfort and will begin a bad habit in pencil holding grip etc. its best to have children practice writing on eye level verticle boards that force proper form and feel more natural to use proper form standing up.

Passafires- have been linked to speech problems in children specifically young boys.