occupational therapist for 5 year old

[southeastastra]

my ds(5)'s teacher has said that we should ask for him to be referred for his fine motor skills. why? what would they do? what could it mean?

[southeastastra]

i'm so worried

[coppertop]

Depending on the cause of the problems the OT might be able to give some exercises for your ds to see if they help. My ds1 did things like rolling and squeezing playdough to improve the strength of his hands.

[southeastastra]

the teacher seems to be worried about the pressure he puts on the pencil when writing. did you son see a therapist for long coppertop?

[coppertop]

At school-age here the children see the OT via an open access clinic. You phone or visit and the OT gives advice. Technically ds1 is still on the list but hasn't been since last year as the school does the work with him.

Ds1 started in Reception with very little strength in his hands so couldn't really put any pressure on the pencil at all (similar strength to a young toddler). The playdough really helped a lot, even just a few minutes a day. He's now 7yrs old and even though he still does the exercises his grip is now good. Writing is now one of his favourite things.

[southeastastra]

thanks ct

[LIZS]

Try not to worry. Its fairly common at that age to find a pencil awkward but a few tips as to how to strengthen the muscles, improve his posture (using a sloping, less hard surface and sitting straight with feet on floor) and refine the movements through fun exercises and activities such as playdough and sand it can improve. It would be an opportunity to experiment with various shaped pencils and grips too. Without intervention the risk is that he'll find writing so tiring and a chore that he won't want to express on paper whatever he is thinking. ds has had similar problems.

[chopster]

ds1 is waiting for OT because he has hypermobility. He lacks any strength in his fingers to apply pressure with a pencil, plus they all bend the wrong way so he can't do it.

The OT is supposed to help with exercise, to strengthen it, and suggest anything else that could help. I'd get the referral asap so that he is on the list if things don't sort themselves out, as the waiting lists can be HUGE.

The sort of things we have been told to do so far is big arm exercises such as flag waving, throwing balls, large scale pictures, etc. Since ds1 can't manage a pencil, he has thicker pencils with huge grips on them, felt pens - so he doesn't have to apply pressure, and he also uses an electronic whiteboard thing.

It might be worth askign for an assessment by the TASS, as we are on a 12 month waiting list, so are gettign referred to TASS early so that they can provide some support in the meantime.

[southeastastra]

thanks for the advice. what is TASS chopster?

[chopster]

It's a teaching and support staff worker who works with the school and will help make sure childrens' educational needs are met.

[southeastastra]

i will ask about TASS thanks chopster, off to the dr with son later

[chopster]

good luck. x

[Reallytired]

My son is 5 and we are waiting for OT. My son is having major problems with writing and other fine motor skills. He has been put on an IEP in the mean time.

The lists can be long and if my son hasn't improved within 6 months then the OT will help the school with ideas.

[southeastastra]

It's hard isn't it. i have a letter from the school with a list of things that they're worried about, personal organisation, motor skills, running, struggling to remember where he should be etc

[Kammy]

One fun thing that reaally seemed to help my ds with his fine motor skills was computer games.....much against my judgement! Using 2 hands on different keys also helped co-ordination. Will not help with strength, but might be a break and something fun to do.

[southeastastra]

he does like the computer (maybe that's the problem he doesn't seem to want to do anything else).

went to see the doc so now await the therapist, hopefully it won't take too long!

thanks for all your replies it's really helped me to relax a little more about it.