Improving Fine motor movements of fingers

With Abhi, the main problem is with his fine motor movements using his fingers. I could make out the difference with his right hand fingers. He wont be able to do a smooth movement of his fingers. I could see the stiffness of the muscles when he tries to do drawing curves/circles etc. What ever comes quite naturally for any child, it seems not at all possible for Abhi. I have to sit with him and make him practice doing the activity.

As I have always found that to make the children sit for sometime, especially with a dull activity which you mention as exercise or therapy, is very difficult. Our therapist also know that. So we device art techiniques which include many activities. So depending on the child’s interest we have to change the approach to make them do the activity.
One very good activity to improve muscle strength of fingers is to make dough from the wheat flour etc as for chapathi/roti.
An alternate and interesting variety will be to prepare paper maché. This involves more than one activity for fingers.

• Tearing of paper with tip of fingers
• Mixing glue and water (wrist movement)
• Mixing the paper/tissue pieces with glue-water and making dough
• To make the activity more interesting make shapes out of this dough and colour them.

To get an idea see the below link.

http://homecraftideas.blogspot.com/2008/08/paper-mach-art-secret-pen-holder.html

One more thing which I realised is, if I make Abhi do OT as exercise or OT activity, I also get disappointed or frustrated thinking,"God, how long I have to continue this to see the improvement in him". Like the doctor has said once, it wont happen in a day as miracle. So I also stopped to say about OT activities, instead tell only about what all way you can do ART.

Colours n shading n sticking

Abhi's OT therapist has asked him to do lot of shading activity using crayons and colour pencils. This improves his finger steadiness and coordination for writing drawing etc.

As usual, to make abhi sit and do an exercise or OT acitivity is difficult. But MAY BE doing an art is possible. And it worked, he was interested to make a photo album.

See the post to make a KIDS PHOTO ALBUM :

http://homecraftideas.blogspot.com/2008/06/kids-photo-album.html

I am inspired by my son

Everyone will have (or should have) a person who have inspired in life - a role model. or sometime more than one in different stages of life. Thats what exactly happening to me.

For me it has been mostly my father who has inspired me. But these days I know my inspiration comes from Abhi also. I always wonder at his self inspiration. Also he does not like to be discouraged. Inspite of his health issues, movement restrictions, he wants to try out everything - possible.

If we ask him what he want to become, his prompt answer will be pilot!

These days he is practising yo-yo along with his friend Adithya. He wanted to do all the yo-yo tricks as his gfriend does. So I have to learn first and then teach him!!!!!! And I thinks in another angle also - it is gong to improve his concentration and hand movements!

Yes..I am proud to tell that I am inspired by Abhi.

Working with different materials and texture - create an Art

As I have told in my previous post, using different materials and different activities the children
with a little help from parents can enjoy doing art.

To enjoy creating a art from tits and bits around your home, visit
http://homecraftideas.blogspot.com/2007/10/simple-and-interesting-junk-art-for.html

Children will enjoy collectin all the things required.

The art involves,
using sand which can be spread by using different fingers and thumb. This improves the finger movements.
paper cutting - hand eye coordination. If cutting is difficult on pencil drawing, draw with thick marker pens.
colouring - using of brushes, colour combinations
paper boats - doing the paper folds will improve finger movements , hand-eye coordination and concentration

Sky is the limit for our imagination!

Pallanguzhi

Pallanguzhi is an ancient indoor game, mostly played by the women of older times, who were mostly tied upto the inside of their homes. So natuarally kids learnt from them.

My grandmother had a very old Pallanguzhi made in teak wood I beleive and also a set of Manjadi kuru and a set of chozhi (small shells). Now I regret that didnt realize the value of the game and preserve it. We also used pulliyam kottai, beads etc. During summer holiday afternoons, we are not allowed to play under sun, and we will have countless rounds of pallanguzhi!

When Abhi's physiotherapist suggested playing pallanguzhi for his fine finger movement and his hand and eye coordination, I literally searched many toy shops in chennai to find a suitable one made in wood. But I still didnt get the old type of board. I specifically wanted wood, because the of its natural feeling. I use manjadi, white channa, dried peas, beads etc. This will give a variety to the game as well as for finger movements.

Another important aspect of this game is you get more skilled in mental arithmatic. When i play with Abhi, i even play with only 2 seeds in a hole, so that it is easy for him to calculate mentally. The more both players calculate and play, the more interesting the game will turn out.

If we analyse our ancient games, we will find the good reasoning behind each, which improves our body and mind.