Whole-Class Strategies to Support Students With Fine Motor Difficulties

Difficulties or delays with fine motor skills can impact a child from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep. In the classroom, many of the most common tasks and activities present challenges for children with graphomotor (handwriting) and fine motor difficulties. But there are many ways to address both by implementing whole class strategies based in Universal Design for Learning.

Fine Motor Difficulties in the Classroom

First, let’s identify some of the challenges that students with fine motor difficulties often encounter, which become apparent when you know what to look for.

Children may fatigue easily during handwriting tasks. You may notice them rubbing or shaking out their hands, or vocalizing that their hands are tired. Their written production may be significantly lower than that of their peers, and they may write and draw with decreased pressure, making their work very light. Or it may be illegible. You may find that a child is able to tell you a story in great detail but cannot write it out—or, if they can, that the content is bare.

Some children may avoid games or activities that rely on fine motor skills, such as building with Lego bricks or wooden blocks. Some may have difficulty using classroom tools, such as scissors, glue, and hole punchers.

Others may have difficulty with self-care tasks that require more complex in-hand manipulation and dexterity, such as shoe-tying, buttoning, snapping, and zippering. Some may ask a peer to do these tasks for them, or simply walk around with untied shoelaces or unzipped clothing.

Strategies to Implement Universal Design for Learning

As a framework, Universal Design for Learning involves minimizing difficulties. Here are some strategies that can help.

Slant boards: Make a few available for kids to use during writing. Instead of purchasing an actual slant board, you can simply use a large, 3-inch binder. You can even attach a clipboard to it using Super Glue, so that papers and books can be attached.

Desk and seat heights: Ensure that desk and seat height are appropriate, and use boxes for children’s feet as needed.

Pencil variety: Children with fine motor difficulties often choose thicker pencils because they can be easier to grip (though not always). Offering a variety of pencils, including regular pencils, tri-writes, and golf pencils, gives children access to the writing tools that work best for them.

Pencil grips: Offer a variety of pencil grips at the writing station or at desks. Here is a breakdown of the different types of pencil grips and the issues that each one can help to address:

• Foam grip: This provides a cushion that is designed to reduce pressure on the joints during writing. It does not position a child’s fingers.
• Stetro grip: Since this grip is small, it is usually better for children who have smaller hands. The indents show where fingers should go and help position the fingers into a tripod grasp pattern.
• Triangle grip: This provides a physical cue to position the fingers into the tripod grasp. There are no indentations for actual finger placement.
• The Writing C.L.A.W.: The thumb, index, and middle fingers go inside of this grip, basically forcing the fingers into the tripod grasp pattern—hence the term “claw.”
• Pencil grip: This pencil grasp provides ergonomic support for the tripod. It comes in regular and jumbo (for smaller hands).
• Grotto grip: This grip is designed to limit maladaptive grasp patterns and movement. It even has a guard on the front to prevent the thumb from wrapping over.

There are many more pencil grips, but these are the most common ones. You can also buy textured and bumpy grips (which can improve tactile input during writing), as well as weighted grips (which can provide the writing hand with proprioceptive input—perception of position and movement). This may benefit sensory seekers and children who require different types of input in order to process sensory information.

Daily handwriting instruction: Ensure that for the primary grades, you are routinely implementing handwriting into the daily curriculum (at least until third grade). There are many handwriting programs—consult with your occupational therapist and administration to choose the one that fits your school best.

Incorporating fine motor work into daily activities: Identify where fine motor coordination can fit into your academic curriculum. For example, can your students build sight words out of Lego bricks? Create tools or artifacts from your social studies unit out of Clics? Dig for multiplication facts in Theraputty? There are endless possibilities.

Reminder bookmarks for handwriting: Use bookmarks that list reminders of good handwriting habits, including characteristics that students can check for after a certain number of paragraphs.

Handwriting exercises: Here’s an exercise to try with your students before writing and anytime they feel tired during the writing process:

1. Shake out both hands.

2. Open and close both hands five to 10 times.

3. Press palms together and hold for 10 seconds.

4. Seat push-up: With flat palms and feet planted on the floor, push up from a chair, and hold for up to 10 seconds.

Finally, here are some great games and toys that address fine motor difficulties. These are great to put around your classroom for choice time:

• Lego bricks
• Clics
• K’Nex
• Magformers
• Squigz
• Theraputty
• Play-Doh
• Discovery Putty
• Tegu magnetic wooden blocks
• Thinking Putty
• Zoob
• Alex Peg and Layer Jungle
• Tinkertoy building sets
• Lakeshore Feed-The-Bunny/Dog
• Fidgets, such as Bug Out Bob
• Pop-Arty crafts
• Melissa and Doug wooden play food
• Mr. Potato Head
• Rainbow Loom
• Weaving loom
• Duct tape projects
• Boogie Board LCD writing tablet
• Wikki Stix
• Wok N’ Roll
• Avalanche Fruit Stand
• Pick-up sticks