No dominant hand at 2.5 - fine motor delay

[AprilSkies]

Just wondered if anyone else has a DC who does have a dominant hand yet and how you are trying to progress their fine motor skills. DS can use a spoon but has difficulties with holding a crayon or putting Lego together.

Any experiences or ideas? He is getting frustrated :(

Who does not, that should say...

Hi april, I work with LO's this age and would say that it is quite common for them to swap hands all the time.

Sometimes we see them painting with 2 brushes one in each hand and the resulting splodge is the same on both sides.

I would provide opportunities for fine motor development and see what happens in the next few months.

eg, picking up and eating peas/ raisins, Threading beads, making marks with fingers in sands/paint/shaving foam etc.

I am sure there are millions more but have brain fade and can't think.

I was actually told (HV so may not be reliable) that a dominant hand too early can be indicative of a problem, ie that one hand is weak.

The only one of mine to have a dominant hand before age 4yo was dd2 and as she's only one hand she doesn't have much choice. Although she told me she was ambidextrous a couple of months ago.

I used both hands until I was about 6 or 7, whichever hand I picked the pencil up in.

Have you tried finger painting rather than colouring?

Thanks guys, he has sensory issues which we are working on, but going to try sponge painting this's week and hopefully progress to finger painting. I thought it might be quite normal not to have a dominant hand but OT disagreed... I wouldnt be worrying about it but he's getting annoyed with it, he tends to use chalk on its side and he can't do that with some crayons so he it frustrates him, which is annoying as he loves arty stuff at the moment. Guess its just exposure and practice.

DS2 still hasn't chosen a dominant hand, and he's 5yo. We just make sure we work on the pencil grip whichever hand he happens to use, and don't push him, based on OT recommendations. And yes, as noted above, lots of opportunities for fine motor skills development for both hands.

Do you find they use whichever hand is closest to the chalk/pen/spoon? Need to remember to mix it up a little and not always place things on my preferred side!

Nope, no rhyme or reason to it at all with DS2. Sometimes he'll pick up a crayon or pencil with one hand and pass it over to the other hand.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it overly much. If you're concerned that you are influencing them in some way, and don't want to, simply put the crayons or pencils in a cup or container and let them choose, so they will use whatever hand they want.

My dd is 4 and has low muscle tone in her hands with hypermobile joints which particularly affects her fine motor skills. She doesn't have much strength so holding a pen is tiring (and she doesn't have a good pen grip) so she will swap hands often.

She used to hate her hands in paint etc but absolutely loves it now! We also did lots of play with flour, beads, playdoh etc for strengthening and sensory feedback.

Thanks, we've been playing with rice,pasta and lentils which he loves. He's getting used to paint/felt tip on hands. Going to try "gloop" too, apparently its great stuff. Ds has hypermobility too, so maybe that is part of it. Thanks for all your advice :)

DD2 had a dominant hand at 2yrs and when we went to Hemispheres for OT and retained reflexes was told this was far too early and a child shouldn't have a dominant hand until at least 4yrs old.

Hand strengthening exercises (which improve fine motor) were given to us by BIBIC and include theraputty (various strengths), clothes pegs, squeezing water out of sponges, tongs etc. HTH

Send him to a montessori nursery. One of my stock answers I'm afraid, but absolutely great for fine motor.

Quite a few children don't have a dominant hand when they start reception. DS is one such, but eventually turned out to be left-handed.

Oodles, I tried but they have waiting list till September :(.

Actually found a really good finger painting app on the iPad, ds loves it and no mess :)