My 5 year old is greatly lacking in fine motor control. The school has now referred him for screening and I am imagining it is a foregone conclusion we shall be entering into OT, but not for awhile as I am in Canada and things move slowly here.

He has always had this problem and we put it down to his not chosing a dominant hand before this past summer. He will still switch back and forth, but really he is a lefty as that is the hand he uses most and has more success with. For instance, if he uses his right hand to eat, food will fall off the utensil all the time and the mess is tremendous. If he uses his left, much more gets to his mouth and the mess is less.

The school says he has no strength in his hands, has horrible fine motor skills for printing, and can barely open doors and do tasks like zippers, etc. They are right. We have been working with him on all this and he is much better than he was, but still has a long way to go yet. At home we find he can open doors just fine, but the school says no. Hmmm...

We have tried playdough for play and to get him to strengthen his hands. He can barely cut through it with one of the cookie cutters unless the playdough is very thin. We have almost absolute disaster wtih scissors (I have universal blunt scissors as I suspected long ago he was a lefty) and I am amazed that he has not cut off an appendage yet. Puzzles he is now coming along with better. We have squishy balls for him to play with, have done sand and gel play bins for him to root around in, and many times have tried to get him onto the computer or to a video game to gain some skills that way. Yes, it is awful, but this is the son I am trying to get to actually PLAY video games. lol He has no skills for this. He is getting better with the mouse on the computer, but it is hard for him so we are going to set up a computer in his room and try to leave more room for him to use it left handed. As far as video games go he got a Leapster for Christmas with a stylus so he can practice letter printing on it and the controller is very, very simple. So far, so good.

Zippers are a write off. He just can not seem to get them together at all. Buttons are horrid, but we have very few things with buttons on them, thankfully. If a toy has a little thing that needs to go together he can not do it. He seems to have no dexterity. In the summer we play baseball and basketball, etc. but he is not that great at it and his self esteem suffers. I try to use an oversized soft ball inside for catch and to get him going but it is not much better. I bought a little dance mat for him for Christmas and hope to work on his jumping and such with it. He is able to spin around now and do some moves with some ease. We have been working on this for ages. My other two sons are exceptional with fine motor skills, just my middle son seems to suffer from this.

So, my question is what can I do to help him? I have read up on some things (hence the playdough and soft ball, squeezy ball, etc.) and could use some tips here, please.

I have no idea what the screening will do but I do know we are supposed to have him screened by the end of the school year. With that timeline it is not likely he will receive any therapy before the next school year. As his teachers are alarmed now, I am trying my best to work on it as much as possible in the meantime. We have wipe off boards and such we have been using for over a year as we ourselves noted this problem last year and were told not to worry back then.

Thank you for your time.

Hi Leigh!

If you wait until the end of the year to get OT, Iain is going to be one frustrated little boy. Hand dominance is typically established by 5 years of age. I would seek out private OT if that is possible, or see if your pediatrician can write a prescription to have him evaluated as soon as possible.

In the meanwhile, here are some things you can do at home to help with upper extremity strengthening, prehensile strength, sensory integration, and precision skills related to writing. Grab the hubby’s shaving cream, a squirt bottle with water, a couple of towels, and find a long mirror (like a closet mirror) that you and your son can kneel in front of. You want to use the hand you are seeing more dominance with. Smear some shaving cream on the mirror above Iain’s eye level so he has to use larger muscle groups for strengthening. You can model, using your index finger, how to make shapes, letters, numbers, silly faces, etc. I have found this technique works well for my children who are having difficulty with letter formation. They need the real TACTILE input! Your are incorporating good sensory and tactile input in addition to strengthening and prehensile skills by performing this activity. You can use finger paints or pudding too. It must be fun or they won’t want to engage!

Another thing you can do at home is put toys in empty peanut butter jars and have Iain retrieve them. Better yet, put candy (or nutritious food) inside so there is a reward for opening the jar. Play-Doh is fairly soft. You want to strengthen Iain’s intrinsic hand muscles. These are the ones he uses for writing and opening things such as jars and doors. Theraputty is a much sturdier medium to work with. There are several different colors for different strengths. I hide coins and small beads in them and have children retrieve (with supervision of course) these items and place them in an empty container. I time them with a kitchen timer so they think it’s a game, and reward them with stickers at the end for all the pieces they remove. It’s hard, yet fun.

If Iain has poor prehensile strength, look into Benbow scissors as in Mary Benbow, occupational therapist. I love her scissors because they are easy for little ones who are having trouble to use. The other thing I do is I cut out a small piece of sponge little enough for the ring and pinky fingers to grab onto while cutting with the thumb, index, and middle finger. This helps my patients focus on using those 3 fingers for cutting. So yes, they are holding that little piece of sponge while cutting with the other 3 fingers.

I would also look into elastic waist pants and Velcro sneakers for now as not to stress him out. Start slow with jackets (with zippers). I hope some of these suggestions help. My sweet Drew was JUST like Iain when he was 5 (1 year ago). His light bulb went off this year in kindergarten. He was in Mommy and Me classes, pre-school programs, ECI intervention, private OT/PT, and me (God help him!) It was not until he started kindergarten that it all came together. Drew actually wanted to pick up a pencil and crayon for the first time. The rest is history. With neurological maturity and a fabulous mother, Mr. Iain will get it together. OT will absolutely help if you can get it sooner vs. later. I hope this helps J Robynne