TinyEYE Blog

It’s that time of year again. The floors are shined, the desks are in neat, clean rows, and the halls are buzzing with students reunited with their friends after a long summer away. For teachers, therapists, and students alike the first week back to school is exciting and invigorating. You can almost picture the shiny new red apple on your desk.

Then, as stealthily as summer turns to fall, the stressors of new staff and students, program planning, and a growing pile of paperwork quickly surmount. 

Guest Post: Wendy, TinyEYE Occupational Therapist

Hello everyone!

I am excited to be able to share some of the typical challenges we see in fine motor development with you today. Fine motor skills are skills involving the small muscles in the hand. When a child has underdeveloped fine motor skills, you will notice a lack of control, dexterity and/or strength. He or she may have trouble stringing beads, drawing, writing, or turning pages. If left unresolved, children with fine motor development delays may struggle with basic life skills such as buttoning, zipping, tying shoes and using utensils, as well as skills necessary for school such as writing, turning pages, and typing.

This is a picture we’ve held in our minds for over a decade. Some of us picture the classic TV show “The Jetsons” where Elroy’s class is taught by a robot. Others picture the scene from “The Matrix”, where upon downloading the information into his mind, Keanu Reeves announces “I know Kung Fu!” But aside from these futuristic examples, our real-life experience with robots has been limited to our household appliances and remote-control cars.

So, why can these robots teach our children where none could before? Simple. They aren’t just robots. 

A Williams Valley Elementary student received the surprise of his life last week when his Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) rolled into the school as a robot. Christian is an eleven-year-old tech-enthusiast attending the elementary school. He has been meeting with his online TinyEYE SLP for a year now, was one of the driving forces behind this new addition to the school.

Guest Post: Wendy, TinyEYE Occupational Therapist

As an Occupational Therapist and fellow parent of 2 young daughters, I am often approached by parents who want ideas about how to help their children develop their motor skills. Listed below are seven simple ideas to play and help develop your child’s motor skills.

1. As your child becomes interested in coloring or drawing, have him work at an easel or tape a large piece of paper to the wall.  This will help to develop stability in the shoulder and elbow while developing the dynamic movements in the wrist and fingers for writing.