Shaky handwritting, will OT help?

amother

Red

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 2:54 pm

My 6 year old son has a very shaky handwriting. Sometimes when he draws pictures I can't see what it is that he tried to draw. He does hold the pencil the correct way. He is good at coloring with crayons and his fine motor skills seem to be great otherwise. He builds intricate clics and lego models. He buttons, zippers, snaps, buckles, etc. and dresses completely independently. I think that he doesn't have enough strength in his hand.
Should I get him evaluated for OT? Even if I do get OT for him, what else can I do to with him at home to help him improve? He likes to write & draw and does it a lot at home.

seeker

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 3:28 pm

If you can't tell what his drawing is at 6 years old then that definitely warrants evaluation. Clics take quite a bit of finger strength, though, so while it certainly would be a good idea to have an OT evaluation I'd also look at visual processing.

Chayalle

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 3:34 pm

Sounds like an OT eval is a good idea.

Some things you can do with him meanwhile: some of those sewing cards, where you thread yarn thru holes to create a picture. Have him lift finger food items, like cheerios, with a pair of tweezers. I have a magnetic toy (Melissa and Doug) that involves lifting colored discs with a magnetic tool and creating pictures that way.

Hatzlacha!

From another Mom of child with fine-motor-skills struggles who is being helped thru OT

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 3:39 pm

Definitely get an OT eval.

My daughter is doing OT now to strengthen her hands/fingers. The OT seems very focused on working on the muscles needed for future pencil holding (dd is only 3.5). Even though clics and legos etc might require good coordination and hand strength, it's a different kind of strength than that needed for writing. My daughter's exercises now involve things to do with two fingers (usually thumb and forefinger, but they said it's okay if she does thumb and a different finger instead) - many ofthem are too hard to figure out how to write up here (like I could show you in 30 seconds, but writing out the movements would take me a long time to figure out). The only easy ones I can think of are opening and closing clothespins or rolling balls of clay between two fingers. Sometimes they also have to work on other muscles, such as the shoulders and the hand too (you can have him crawl around on hands and knees to strengthen those, but there are better ways).

But please, take him to an OT! I never got OT and my handwriting never improved and to this day I can barely write anything legible, or even write for more than a few minutes without terrible pain and fatigue in my hand. This is the perfect age to do it.

amother

Red

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 4:00 pm

Thanks everyone for the replies.
Now that you mention visual processing, it got me thinking. When he reads, he makes a lot of mistakes eventhough he know kriah well.
How can I evaluate him for visual processing? Who does such evaluation?

behappy2

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 4:12 pm

It could be that he is not artsy. Maybe he can't get the pic in his head onto paper. I would look to see if there are least one or two more areas that he is not succeeding in as far as fine motor skills goes. My son is 6 too and just got him evaluated.

seeker

Mon, Nov 28 2016, 5:10 pm

amother wrote:

Developmental optometrist. There are probably developmental opthalmologists also but I don't happen to know of any.

They are not all equal so consider posting a new thread here for reviews when you find someone to consider.