How to develop fine motor skills

by Labson Kamumfisa - SEN Teacher
(Lusaka, zambia)

I'm currently teaching a student who needs brain gym activities to enable him work at the appropriate level with his peers, he has problems with his fine motor skills and some speech problems, what activities do I need to give him?

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How to develop fine motor skills

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Lazy 8's develop handwriting and fine motor skills
by: Pauline

Hi Labson,

Thankyou for visiting happinesspages.com and I am pleased you asked that question.

Fine motor skills are definitely improved by drawing lazy 8's. Speech requires the highest level of fine motor co-ordination, so it should help that too. (See www.happinesspages.com/brain-gym-exercises.html)

Your student should do laxy eights on paper, on a whiteboard, or chalk board for 1 minute before any written task (including maths)

The lazy eights need to be at least shoulder width (i.e. A4 landacape paper) and go up on the cross-over not down. The child should focus on the mid point of the lazy 8. His body should not move from side to side, so that correct eye movement and tracking is incorporated into the exercise. (Great for improving visual tracking for dyslexics too)

It is worth while doing some cross-crawl too as this integrates previous learning.

Another tip to promote speech is not from Brain Gym itself, but from the wider Applied Kinesiology.

Stimulating the tempero-mandibular joint i.e. rubbing the face around the jaw joint will stimulate increased articulation and speech.
I have used this successfully on a number of occasions.

One dramatic improvement was a girl student, She was unintelligible at age 10 due to severe dyspravia. Her mum rubbed her face daily during the six week summer holidays. At a speech therapy appointment she had improved her expressive language by 4 years 8 months. Quite impressive I think, don't you?

The great thing about these exercises is that the student gets to know when he or she needs to do them. If they feel muddled or stressed then either of these exercises will relax, calm, clear their heads and allow them to focus.

Please get back to me and let me know how your student progresses. You can contact me directly via my contact page.

Wishing you and your students every success.

Sincerely,

Pauline O.

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