Vocational School of Justice
UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S WRITING ISSUES
Children might be experiencing difficulties in writing; drawing despite it has been a month since the beginning of the academic year. The experts report that muscle development in children occur from shoulders to fingers, basically this means that children develop the larger muscles of the trunk and arms before the smaller muscles of the hands, and that they need time and attention to develop ‘fine motor skills’. The experts recommend a series of activities that would increase children’s hand skills such as hanging objects on the string with clothespins, or playing with play-doh instead of getting angry with children.
Ezgi Oral, Lecturer at Child Development Program, Vocational School of Health Services, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), stated that children develop the larger muscles of the trunk and arms before the smaller muscles of the hands, and muscle control alone wasn’t enough for fine motor skills development in children, eye-hand coordination was also necessary. Oral said, “Children go through stages of pencil grasp development. They first grasp a pencil/crayon using movement from the shoulder. Then they use the arm muscles to move the pencil around, as well as the shoulder muscles. Finally, they use their fingers where the thumb, middle and index fingers are grasping the pencil or crayon. The child should be able to reach out to the correct place in order to grab the object we show to them. Fine motor deficiencies in children cause difficulties in developing many skills such as eating, getting dressed up, drawing, writing, engaging in many school activities.”
‘Solve it with games/exercises’
Children might experience during pre and after school periods, and they need to be supported with activities to improve their fine motor skills, said Oral. She pointed that the activities would help the family have fun together as well as helping the child with academic skills. Oral stated the following:
“Child’s fine motor skills may be improved via various activities. Parents can support their children with simple activities such as sewing, weaving, treading, painting, lacing, pinching clothespins. Some specific learning disabilities may also cause difficulty in writing. If the problem persists despite additional exercises, the parents need to find the underlying cause instead of getting angry with their children. They should seek professional help. Punishing the child because of this would have negative impact on child’s personality and cause cold feet on going to school.”