Important information from our occupational therapist!

Hello Parents,

           

Today the occupational therapist worked with all kindergarten children in order to develop bilateral motor integration.  We introduced children to their right and left sides and did an activity to help them learn these spatial directions.  We will continue to reinforce this concept within each of the next six -week sessions. Each week you will receive a short summary of our work for the week and we hope that you will talk and play with your child using these concepts.

Bilateral Motor Coordination is critical for the development of fine and gross motor development.  When the child uses both hands in order to complete tasks (either gross motor or fine motor) one hand emerges as dominant the other as an assist.  We use our hands in this fashion for almost all tasks.  The assistive hand allows one to stabilize the body for all tasks. It is also very important for the development of visual control and eye movements.

Bilateral integration includes symmetrical and asymmetrical movement of the body that is needed for the activity. Writing is mostly an asymmetrical activity with one hand stabilizing the paper and the other holding the pencil.  Often children with difficulty in this area may also have unusual muscle tone and what might be called poor postural adjustments.  It is important to “modulate” muscle tone throughout the trunk and upper extremities with “fun: activities.  Some great activities to do at home are; Hippity Hop balls to play on, spinning on a Sit and Spin, jumping jacks, or even lifting and pushing furniture, animal walking requiring weight bearing on arms, or even wall pushups.

Many children prefer to work on vertical rather than horizontal surfaces when writing drawing or coloring.  This can be achieved at home by using a three ring binder as a surface, or a wall, or an easel. Children should be encouraged to stabilize the paper with non-dominant hand so avoid taping or “fixing” the paper too well.  Let the child “work” at keeping the paper steady. Make it fun; do not make it too hard.

Encourage the children to “set “ the table, fork on the left, knife, cup or spoon on the right. Try to play games that require using directional terminology. These games can be Treasure hunts, putting away clothing etc.  If this is too hard for your child reinforce with R and L labels on the surface that the child is working on.

Most importantly, have fun with your child do not make this hard or over taught. All of these skills are developmental in nature and come into play anytime during the kindergarten years. Enjoy the activities and keep in mind that we want to develop these skills.

Thank you, 

Janet Kaplan MS OTR/L