Speaker: Dr Khoo Kay Yong BSc. (Malaya); MScITE(HKU); EdD(HKU)

Developing Fine Motor Skills with meaningful activities (2017)

• Two of the most important educational goals are to promote retention and to promote transfer.

Rote learning is where you memorize something without full understanding and you don't know how the new information relates to your other stored knowledge.

Meaningful learning refers to the concept that the learned knowledge (lets say a fact) is fully understood by the individual and that the individual knows how that specific fact relates to other stored facts.

Meaningful Learning are:

ContextualActive

Reflective Intentional

Conversational

• Embrace the technology to facilitate learning.

Technologies facilitate meaningful learning by creating contexts and interactive activities for children.

Using familiar characters

Repeating information

Reducing cognitive load for children’s learning.

Interactive activities to

promote active learning

• 2-4 Year Old Developmental Milestones

Haptic perception, cognition & vision

Symbols

logic

Abstract concepts

Fine motor skills

Gross motor skills

Basic knowledge

• Foundational hand skills

The hand has two functions:

Executive and Perceptual organ

Tying shoes/buttoning

Exploratory / information

seeking

Cognitive processes in Motor Skills

Attention Perception Concept formation Memory Learning

Motor learning theory emphasizes that skills are acquired using specific strategies and are refined through a great deal of repetition and the transfer of skills to other tasks Croce(Croce & DePaepe, 1989).

 

Croce, R., & DePaepe, J. (1989). A critique of therapeutic intervention programming with reference to an alternative approach based on motor learning theory. Physical and Occupational Theraphy in Pediatrics, 9(3), 5-33.

Hand skill intervention cannot be done to a child; it must be done with the child’s belief that he or she can be successful in accomplishing the activities presented (Pehoski, 1992). 

Pehoski, C. (1992). Central nervous system control of precision movements of the hand. In J. Case-Smith & C. Pehoski (Eds.), Development of hand skills in the child (pp. 1-11). Rockville, MD: The American Occupational Therapy Association.

Data from Lederman SJ, Klatzky RL (1987). Hand movements: a window into haptic recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 19: 342-368

Hand skillsGrasp

-Crude palmar grasp (4-5 months)

-Palmar Grasp (5-6 months)

-Redial Palmar Grasp (6-7 months)

-Raking Grasp (7-8 months)

-Radial Digital Grasp (8-9 months)

-Pincer Grasp (10-12 months)

Hand skillsRelease

Automatic release Purposeful release

Fine Motor Skills• Whole Arm• Whole Hand• Pincher• Pincer

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/MELS.English

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Whole arm Whole hand Pincher Pincer

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(Michelle Huffman & Fortenberry, 2011)

Hand skillsMotor skills

In-Hand Manipulation Skills

1. Finger-to-palm translation

2. Palm-to-finger translation

3. Shift: Slight adjustment of the object on or by the fingers

pads

4. Simple rotation: Turning or rolling the object 90 degrees or

less, with the fingers acting as a unit

5. Complex rotation: Turning an object over using isolated finger

and thumb movements

Hand skills

Group Activity 2

Using the tables and find the answer for the following questions.

10 minutes

Group Activity 2

1. Peter is 2 years old. Can he reach his back with both hands when put on clothes?

2. Jane is 6 months old. Can she open mouth for teeth to be brushed?

3. Jack is 18 months old. Can he put head through hole when he wear a T-shirt?

4. Mary is 4 year old. Can she button back buttons (without seeing them)?

5. Sally is a teacher. She teaches a class of 20 months old children. Can they comb hair independently?

6. In the next lesson, Sally would like to teach them to rubs hands together for cleaning, can the children?

7. Ali is 15 months old. Can he hold a spoon with one hand to eat while holding the plate on the other hand to stabilize it?

• Hands-on Practices

Activities for children1. On the beach

5. Safari

7. Castle

8.A stage performance

6. The garden

3. Museum

4.A night scene

2. The kitchen

2

6

1

3

2

3 4

45

5

1

6

7

7

8

8

A child’s interest in an activity-

It is meaningful; It is significance for the child.

• Eating

• Dressing

• Bathing

• Toileting

• THE END