Fine motor skills | Imamother

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Toddlers

Fine motor skills

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amother

Oak

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:16 am

how do I know if my 2 1/4 year old is on track with his fine motor skills?
is there a checklist I can look at?

he cannot hold up 2 fingers like to say I'm 2 years old.
is he supposed to be able to do that?

pesek zman

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:17 am

Can he hold a crayon?

alis_al_kulana

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:18 am

Can't or doesn't want to?
Can he hold a crayon?
Can he take off his clothes?
Can he pretend to give a doll a bottle?

alis_al_kulana

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:18 am

One of my kids appeared to be delayed for a long time because they did not like to perform such things

cozyblanket

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:19 am

Google "fine motor skills checklist 18-24 months." Or 24 -30 months.

You will get a lot of info.

amother

Oak

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:23 am

he can color with crayons and use 2 fingers to pick up small objects.
its the act of holding 2 fingers up and the 3 others down that he can't seem to do. or even 1 up and 4 down, or any combo.

amother

Oak

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:33 am

this is a 24 month old checklist I found on google

Manipulates clay or play dough with fingers. yes
Can build a tower 9 blocks high. no
Can turn doorknobs. yes
Can pick up small objects with pincer grasp (index finger and thumb). yes
Can complete 3 piece puzzles. no
Makes scribbles on paper. yes
Makes snips on paper with scissors. he's learning
Can wash hands independently. no
Can screw lids on and off containers. yes
Able to string large beads. never tried
Zips and unzips large zippers. yes
Able to use a spoon correctly. yes

so based on these answers do I have what to worry about or no?
he's especially good with gross motor skills which I why I'm concerned that he's not developing fine motor skills enough.

Rachel Shira

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:40 am

As a teacher of 2 year olds - I wouldn’t be concerned although if you are, you can possibly get a free OT evaluation depending on where you live. If I were assessing a child in my class and got those checklist results, I would work with him on simple puzzles (I assume you’re talking about puzzles where the piece matches the picture underneath it, or similar) and check to see if he’s able to do large beads (he may need you to hold the string while he puts the bead on). Everything else seems totally normal.
Some kids are just better at gross motor skills and take a bit longer to catch up on fine motor skills (or vice versa).

Rachel Shira

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:42 am

I also wanted to add that it’s great that he can do zippers and open containers. I wouldn’t be worried. I did just notice that he can’t make a block tower - I’d work on that too as part of playtime, but no stress.

cozyblanket

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 11:54 am

You have a lot of yeses on that list you posted. Can he make a block tower of any number of blocks? If he can, I would just work on the three piece puzzles and not worry about it.

amother

Oak

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 1:24 pm

Thank you for your replies!
About holding up 2 fingers, can other toddlers do that?
I’m wondering if I’m just not remembering accurately because I remember all my other kids learning to hold up 2 fingers around the time of the second birthday.

It’s also possible my toddler just isn’t trying because he doesn’t want to.

Rachel Shira

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 1:32 pm

I'm sure some toddlers can, and others can't. It's tricky to hold up 2 fingers because it takes a lot of strength and coordination to hold down the other ones. Honestly, I never heard of that as an important developmental benchmark.

relish

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 2:18 pm

how are his other visual perceptual skills?
Puzzles and towers involve the same skill of visual perception. In basic terms, it's our mind processing what our eyes see, so we can make sense of it.
Visual motor, is putting our body parts where we want them to go, based on what we see.

When he plays a game of catch, can he follow the ball with his eyes?
Can he pop bubbles that are floating in the air?

Based on the little information you are providing here, I would look a bit more at this skill.

It also depends how old he is. Did he just turn two? Is he almost three?

(This is for info purposes only. I am not providing you a service under my OT license)

seeker

Fri, Mar 09 2018, 3:48 pm

Does not sound like any cause for concern about fine motor skills. Yes, many kids that age and even older have a hard time holding up specific number of fingers. As Relish explained, the puzzles and blocks involve different skill sets besides fine motor. I still wouldn't be very concerned if it's just those, though you might want to offer more puzzle and puzzle-like activities to see if he catches on, just in case. But 2 1/4 is very young to be worried about these isolated skills in a child who is generally doing fine in other areas.

amother

Bisque

Sun, Mar 11 2018, 6:56 pm

My dd has a motor delay. Your son sounds fine.

Many 2 year olds can't do 9 blocks - as long as he can do a few, it's fine.

Many 2 years olds don't do puzzles, don't worry about it, but you can work on it if you want.

Try stringing large beads, it's great for hand and finger coordination!

Don't worry about the scissors, some kids do that a little later and it doesn't mean much on it's own if they are doing other things.

Definitely don't worry about washing hands independently at this age.

It actually requires a lot of cooridantion to hold up 2 fingers, because they need to separate out their fingers and hold some up and hold some down and use their thumb to hold the down ones. So don't worry about that. If you can do it for him with his fingers and nothing feels tight or stiff, it's not a problem. (Just out of curiosity, have you asked him to hold up 2 fingers with his left hand too? Some kids can't seem to do it because they are using their non-dominant hand.)

If your gut says something is wrong, always go for an evaluation. But if you are only worried because he can't hold up 2 fingers, that's no reason for concern at this age.

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