OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST SHARES THREE KEY STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE MOTOR SKILLS IN ALL KIDS
In this podcast Paediatric Occupational Therapist Sally McNamara (Lewis) shares her 3 key strategies to improve motor skills in ALL children.
🔑 Ever wondered why children fidget?
🔑 Ever thought about how playgrounds can be designed to maximise learning motor skills?
🔑 Ever considered integrating learning motor skills into every day tasks?
All these questioned and more answered in this podcast!
3 strategies to Improve Motor Skills
From Occupational Therapist Sally McNamara
Keep it fun and functional
Use the child’s interests and create a purpose to the motor activities. Ensure there is variety in what the child is doing.
Think outside the square
For teachers: work collaboratively with specialist teachers to see if they can implement certain motor activities into their lessons, think of ways to offer lessons differently to include more motor demands, adapt the activity suggestions to suit your student(s).
For parents/carers: you may also think of different ways to do familiar things, e.g. do the air chair activity (from The Motor Skill Flip-Book Program) while they are brushing their teeth. Also, consider extra-curricular activities that may address the child’s motor skills in a way that you may not be able to offer at home or school, e.g. martial arts, dancing, swimming, scouts/guides, sports etc.
Finger opposition method mentioned in the podcast:
Utilise playgrounds
And/or advocate for playgrounds that support motor development – check out Sally’s work as a playground design consultant here.
Out of stock
The Motor Skill Flip-Book Program
$59.95
| by Sally McNamara – An easy-to-use resource for therapists, teachers, aides and parents. Developed by a paediatric occupational therapist in response to demand for quick and easy motor skill programs for children. Five colour-coded areas of motor development incorporating the whole body; including core strength, shoulder stability, gross motor coordination, fine motor coordination, and pencil control skills. 100 mix and match activities of varying degrees of difficulty that can be tailored to each child, or group of children, quickly and easily. Beneficial for children who experience handwriting difficulties as well as general coordination and motor development issues. Star system allows for evaluation of skill level and the ability to track progress and set goals.
Articles mentioned in the podcast
- (PDF) A 30-Year Journey of Monitoring Fitness and Skill Outcomes in Physical Education: Lessons Learned and a Focus on the Future (researchgate.net)
- Thirteen-Year Trends in Child and Adolescent Fundamental Mov… : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (lww.com)
- The Real Reason Why Kids Fidget | HuffPost Life
- Angela Hanscom: The REAL reason children fidget — and what we can do about it | TED Talk
Timers mentioned in the podcast
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