Can you tell me what fine motor skills your nearly 2 year old has?

[Jenkeywoo]

My dd is 22 months and has cerebral palsy - initially diagnosed as being affected on her right side only. However we don't think her hand function on her left side is where it should be for her age. I would like to know what children of a similar age can do so that I can have some ammuntion for when I see the paediatrician this week.

Examples: - self-feeding, colouring, pressing door bell, turning taps/door handles? putting a sticker on a sheet, what about those pop-up toys where they have to push a button, twist a knob, slide a switch etc? Threading beads/cotton reels etc?

Any ideas much appreciated - thanks.

When DS was that age - he could just about self-feed with a spoon, and make a scribble with crayons. He couldn't turn a tap or put a sticker on a sheet. He could push buttons on toys, and build a small tower of bricks/duplo, but couldn't thread beads.

Hi Jenkeywoo. I'm sorry about your DD's cerebral palsy. I don't know if it's helpful, but my 18 month old DS can do most of the things you mention, although we haven't tried threading beads etc. yet. I think he can do these things with both his hands, but I couldn't swear to it. I'm not sure at what age one hand becomes dominant - if pushed I'd say he's right handed.

If your DD can't do these with her left hand I'd say you need to press the point your paediatrician. HTH.

Hi Jenkywoo, my 22-month-old can do the following:
self-feed with hands, fork, spoon(including quite dainty dipping)
some basic scribbling but certainly not within lines
some of the buttons on the popup toys (pushing and sliding)
turning a door handle
putting a sticker somewhere rather approximate in a Charlie and Lola magazine.
I doubt she could do threading or turn on a tap without assistance.
Hope that helps.

Thanks, I know children really vary but I'm fairly sure that dd1 was doing more at this age but have no real memories anymore as two children have destroyed too many of my brain cells.

My DS is 2 in early March.

He can:

fasten his shoes (velcro)
switch a light on and off
thread large beads (with a 1cm hole)
feeds himself with a spoon
Open a jar if the lid is lose
draw little scribbles
pick up little things, like raisins

he can't:
turn a door knob
button his coat
thread with smaller beads
pull down his trousers (always gets them stuck on his bum!)
turn paper pages in a book one by one

I hope that helps - I will ask the others on our post natal thread to post too

My dd who is 20m (and from what I remember of ds) can do most of what you listed like manipulate toys, press buttons, self feed, but not threading beads and would depend on the stickers. She can't turn the door handles but ds could (was taller so that probably a factor) whilst she can draw but ds not that proficient. I suppose much of this would require the co-ordination of both hands though and it must so much harder for your dd.

Are you hoping the paed will refer for some physio support?

my DD is 25 mo. she has been feeding herself since 13mo - tho my boys couldn't do it at that age , hold a pen or pencil and do circular motions, don't think she'd be able to thread things. she likes to have a go at her buckles on her shoes and can half-undo them, loves the velcro fastening on her trainers. yes she can do anything involving pushing buttons, (especially when you are trying to enter your pin number on the little keypad at the supermarket ) yes presses the doorbell when visiting grandparents, loves to send the car electric windows up, down, up, down excessively so they have to be almost permanently locked... and yes she can turn the bath and sink taps on. I don't think that there have been huge leaps in the last three months, so this lot are within the realms of your DD's developmental stage.

Have you got a good therapy programme for your DD or is this what you need the ammo for?

My ds has very good fm skills- could feed himself from about 7-8 mths and fed himself entirely independently from 12mths, however I don't think he could have threaded beads at 22 mths- he is now nearly 3 and couldn't thread a zip or do buttons.

My 18mo can feed herself, scribble with a pen in a very random way, she can't do those toys that you mention (I think they require a lot of finger strength and are too hard!), she can put 3 or four megablocs together.

I have worked with a lot of children with CP ranging from very mild to very severe. I do think that a diagnosis of affected on one side does not necessarily mean that the 'good' side will not have any difficulties at all- just that it will generally be much better. It is still quite likely that she will have some amount of co-ordination difficulty or take longer to master some skills.

I used to work for an organisation you might want to check out
www.b-i-r-d.org.uk

dd is neglected subsequent sibling - so I may get some of these wrong 2 in March
She can control a pen fairly well, build a tower, put stickers on a sheet/her coat/her dolls/flipping anything that moves, draw scribbles (not random, but not colouring in), undo a loose screw lid (esp on mascaras and lipsticks), unzip a zip, feed herself with spoon & fork, press button on pop-up toy.
She can't turn door handles, and or thread beads

My 20 month can turn taps, press buttons (lifts/ pedestrian crossings)she does 'colour' but it is basic scribbling, nut to be honest i dont think she has any idea it is supposeed to be either but i would say i have taught her or at least demonstrated all these things when she showed an interest, im not sure that she would have picked them up alone. For example she cant turn door handles, but ours are all too high for her to reach whereas her cousin has been able to for ages as there door handles are much lower down.

She cannot thread cotton reels, but can stack them in pile and insist i thread them! Hope this helps.

thanks everyone and thanks soph for the link. I'm off to tackle the ironing pile so will check back later. Yes, at the moment our physio and OT are woefully inadequate so I'm looking for some ammo really.