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

Fun with Clay

Using clay is a very good activity for improving finger movements. Olden days children used to play with mud and clay outside our home. Now a days we are more worried about hygiene, cleanliness etc!

Artificial clay which is available in any stationary shop can be used and reused for a longer time. Usual activities done using clay includes:

• Making balls of different sizes with finger tips, palm etc
• Making strings, flattening the balls with thumb, flatting with rolling pin etc
• Make different shapes of different sizes and colors.

Alternate ideas which may interest the child to do the activity:

When dough is made for preparing roti, ask to help by making balls and also for making rotis using the rolling pins. The round mouth of a glass or other shapes can be cut to form different shaped rotis.

Buy M-seal available in hardware shop. Make small balls and arrange to form flowers, make leaf shapes, twines etc. This can be used to decorate pots etc. This requires adult attention. The work has to be done faster as the m-seal dries up faster. Also care should be taken so that the children don’t put it into mouth. Wash hands thoroughly once completed.

See the below post for a similar m-seal art work

http://homecraftideas.blogspot.com/2007/07/m-seal-art.html

Occupational Therapy

Physio therapy is generally like doing rigorous exercises, which will improve the muscles, flexibility of the body etc, catering to the overall structure of the body.
Occupational Therapy is more specialized therapy designed to enable/improve the individual to work with their arms and hands and achieve to function as independently as possible in their daily living activities. Generally it focuses on developing functional skills related to sensory-motor integration; coordination of movement; fine motor skills; self-help skills (dressing, self-feeding, etc.); learning alternative methods like using computers. The trained occupational therapist will be able to guide depending on the person’s abilities.

I have noticed with pain, it is so difficult for Abhi to do many activities which most of us do quite naturally. And the most difficult part for the other members of the family is the test of patience. We need to give more time for them to do by themselves. Also restrict ourselves from doing it for them, when we see them struggle to do.

Working out with a OT therapist is required. Many of the activities can be things we do with out much awareness or effort. So initially it did not even cross my mind that I will have to train Abhi or make him to practice doing these activities separately. In this aspect, the therapist will have many ideas and suggestions to guide. Going to V-Excel for OT has been very helpful.

Coming blogs, I will write some of the activities which we do and which I believe has improved Abhi’s motor skills and his daily activities.