Motor Skills

Most kindergarten children have very well developed motor skills. They are running and enjoying playground equipment. In the classroom, they are painting, and using all sorts of markers, paints and pencils. Delays in motor skills can and do negatively influence other areas of development.

Figure 1. A girl painting

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Some signs of gross motor delay include:

• running in an awkward way and constantly bumping into objects;
• difficulty going up and down the stairs, or going up and down the stairs by placing both feet on each step;
• difficulty with jumping and hopping forward;
• difficulty with skipping (Fig. 2);
• difficulty catching large and medium size balls;
• difficulty throwing balls of any size;
• difficulty walking backward.

Figure 2. Skipping rope

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Some signs of fine motor delay include:

• using the entire hand to hold a pencil (that is, instead of the tripod position);
• difficulty using scissors and cutting simple shapes;
• difficulty staying within line, when coloring a shape;
• holding a pen or pencil too strongly (could indicate hypertonia) or too softly (could indicate hypotonia);
• difficulty with lacing activities (where the child pushes a thread through holes on a board);
• difficulty tracing (where the child writes or marks something by marking over an already traced word or image.

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