Clothing Fasteners and Gross Motor Skill Development

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AND CLOTHING FASTENERS

Buttons, zippers, snaps and buckles are all clothing fasteners that require finger dexterity and fine motor skills to open and close.  Did you know that they also require gross motor skills?  In order to be able to open and close traditional clothing fasteners one must have proper stability, postural control, balance and bilateral coordination.

The proximal muscles of the shoulder girdle and trunk function as a stabilizer when fastening clothing.  Efficient control of the larger muscle groups in the neck, shoulder and trunk is necessary to maintain stability in order to place the fingers and hands in the proper position to button/unbutton, zip/unzip, snap and buckle.

When children are using clothing fasteners, they require distal control of the hands and fingers while the body must remain balanced.  The head moves to visual track the skill (flexion and perhaps rotation) possibly eliciting an equilibrium reaction in the body to maintain an upright posture.  Children must have intact equilibrium reactions and sufficient balance in sitting and standing to fasten the clothing.

Bilateral coordination skills are a necessary skill for independence with clothing fasteners.  Higher level bilateral coordination skills are needed since the opposite hands and arms are doing slightly different motions with different timing while fastening clothing.  Unzipping or unbuttoning requires less bilateral coordination skills than zipping and buttoning.  For example with zipping both sides of the body are doing different motions at the same time.  In order to zip one must: use one hand to hold the bottom of zipper track, use the other hand to hold the zipper pull,  inserts track into zipper pull, pull down the track to lock into place and finally use one hand to pull side of jacket down while other hand pulls zipper tab up to zip.  Buttoning also requires a sufficient amount of bilateral coordination skills to complete the task.  For example when buttoning on the right side of the shirt you must: hold button with right hand, hold edge of buttonhole with left hand turning underside of buttonhole, right hand pushes button through hole until it hits left thumb and the left hand pulls button through hole while right hand pulls hole over button.

Eye hand coordination skills are essential to use clothing fasteners as well.  Children need to be able to utilize visual input to help to control the hands to complete the skills independently.

GROSS MOTOR SKILL ACTIVITIES TO HELP CHILDREN TO BE INDEPENDENT WITH CLOTHING FASTENERS

Gross motor activities that will improve postural control, muscle strength in the proximal muscles, bilateral coordination and eye hand coordination may help children develop the underlying skills to achieve independence with clothing fasteners.  Here are some suggested activities:

1. Hanging and climbing activities – Practice monkey bars, chins ups, pull ups or swing from the tree limbs to increase the muscle strength in the shoulder girdle muscles and hands.  Climb the ladders and ropes on the playground to increase the muscle strength in the shoulder girdle muscles, to improve eye hand coordination skills and to improve bilateral coordination skills.
2. Pushing and pulling activities – pull a heavy wagon or push a child on a swing.  These pushing and pulling motions help the shoulder learn to coactivate to produce the right amount of force and stability when using clothing fasteners.  Push too hard and you will not be able to engage a zipper or fasten a button.  Pull too hard and the button will be trapped inside the opening.
3. Weight bearing activities through the arms – animal walks, wheelbarrow walking, crawling, and push ups/planks all help to increase muscle strength and improve coactivation of the shoulder and postural muscles.
4. Yoga Poses – provide muscle strengthening and postural control.
5. Bilateral coordination activities where one hand is stabilizing while the other hand is moving – activities such as using a fishing rod, using a hand mixer, stirring ingredient in a recipe, hammering a golf tee into Styrofoam, etc.
6. Overall symmetrical bilateral coordination activities (both sides of the body are doing the same thing as the same time) such as jumping jacks, jumping rope, dribbling a ball with both hands at the same time, etc.
7. Overall asymmetrical bilateral coordination activities (both sides of the body are doing different things at the same time) such as cross crawls, windmills and hand clapping games.
8. Games or activities that require the forearm to be in a neutral position such as tennis, badminton, zoom ball, throwing/passing a large ball with two hands overhead or opening/closing an expandable ball.
9. Isometric exercises – activities such as Tai Chi and Karate require one to contract and stabilize muscles while the extremities perform various motions.  Try this Ninja Clothes Pin activity to practice postural control, isometric exercises and fine motor skills.
10. Balance activities – Perform activities that challenge balance and eye hand coordination skills at the same time.  Can you sit on an exercise ball and play catch?  Can you stand on a balance beam and play catch?  Try catching smaller and smaller balls.

5 MODIFICATIONS TO HELP WITH GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AND CLOTHING FASTENERS

If a child is unable to independently fasten or unfasten his/her clothing these modifications may be helpful:

1. Provide a stable base of support while they are fastening the clothing.  For example, sit on a bench with feet firmly on the ground or sit on the floor in the corner of the room with back support.
2. Provide verbal cues as necessary. Try to use the wording on each step by step direction for consistency. As the child becomes more independent, reduce the verbal cues until they can be discontinued completely.
3. Avoid certain fasteners – if a child does not have the strength in the shoulders or hands to snap try modifying the clothing with velcro or elastic.
4. Use backward chaining in a child is having trouble with motor planning to complete all the steps to zip, button or snap.  Backward chaining means that an adult provides assistance throughout several steps until the child can complete the last steps independently.
5. Practice the skill in an isolated setting when not rushed.  Once the child can complete the fastening tasks independently, practice the skills in different environments (i.e. bathroom versus bedroom) or with different types of clothing (i.e. tighter fitting versus looser fitting).

Need to measure progress of a child’s ability to button or zip?  Check out the Dressing Skills Rubrics packet.

This post is part of the Functional Skills for Kids: 12 Month series by Occupational and Physical Therapists. You can read all of the functions on childhood HERE. Read all of my monthly posts in this series HERE.

Looking for more information about the development of the functional skills of scissor use in childhood? Stop by to see what the other occupational therapists and physical therapists in the Functional Skills for Kids series have written.

When Can Kids Learn to Button and Zip? | Mama OT

Clothing Fasteners and Fine Motor Skill Development | Kids Play Space

Clothing Fasteners and Gross Motor Skill Development | Your Therapy Source Inc

How to Adapt Buttoning and Zipping for Your Child   | Miss Jaime OT

Learning How To Use Buttons, Snaps, Zippers, and Buckles Through Play | Growing Hands-On Kids

Tips to Teach Kids to Zip and Button | The Inspired Treehouse

Pinch. Poke. Snap… Helping Kids to Manage Buttons, Zips and More!  | Your Kids OT

Clothing Fasteners and Sensory Processing| Sugar Aunts

The Visual Motor Aspect of Buttons and Zippers  | Therapy Fun Zone

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Postural Control, Gross Motor Development and Mealtime

When you think of children and mealtime, the first things that come to mind may be related to the hand and mouth – ie the ability to use a spoon or fork, bringing food to mouth and getting food inside the mouth.  What you may not realize is that the child’s postural control and gross motor skills greatly influence the ability to function independently during mealtime.  The hips affect the lips!

GROSS MOTOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND MEALTIME

Alignment of the mouth and jaw for feeding is interconnected to head and trunk stability.  As babies develop their gross motor skills, they become developmentally ready to try solid foods.  This is usually around 6 months of age when the baby is able to: sit with support in an upright position (either on the lap or in a suitable high chair), roll over, rotate trunk and head voluntarily and bring hands and toys to mouth for exploration.

As children begin to increase their mobility, they learn to position themselves independently during mealtimes in a variety of settings including on the floor, small tables and chairs or at the dining room table.  At around 17-19 months, children can back into a small chair or slide sideways onto the chair to sit to eat at a small table.  Around 18-21 months, children can climb forward onto an adult chair, turn around and sit.  At around 37 – 46 months, children eat most foods without significant mess.  Regardless of where they are seated, children need to have the postural control to remain upright and stable while eating not only to control oral motor skills but to prevent choking.

POSTURAL CONTROL AND MEALTIME

In order to achieve proper alignment of the head during mealtimes, the baby or child needs to be stable at the pelvis, trunk and head.  Children with neurotypical development may be able to compensate with regards to oral motor skills if there is misalignment in the trunk.  Children with disabilities, may exhibit significant difficulties with oral motor skills if there is a lack of postural control.

Starting at the pelvis, the hips should be stable, symmetrical and around a 90 degree angle.  This stable pelvis will allow the child to maintain a more upright posture.  Foot support can help to increase pelvic stability, therefore in the older child, the feet should be positioned on the floor or a foot stool.  The sitting posture should be approximately 90 degrees at the hips, 90 degrees at the knees and ankles.

The trunk should also be symmetrical allowing the child to sit up straight during mealtime.  For children with significant disabilities, adaptive seating may be necessary to achieve a stable pelvis and trunk.

Having a stable pelvis and trunk allows for proper head position for mealtime.  Research indicates that a child’s head position influences the swallow during feeding and reduces the risk of aspiration.  The recommended head posture for safe swallow is a “chin tuck.” The head is positioned upright, in midline, with slight neck flexion, so that the chin is directed slightly downward and inward.  For children with significant physical disabilities, a caregiver may have to facilitate the position for safe swallowing.

GROSS MOTOR ACTIVITIES TO HELP WITH POSTURAL CONTROL FOR MEALTIME

Here are 5 gross motor activities to work on improving postural control to encourage pelvis, trunk and head stability for mealtime-

1. Play in prone.  Play any games while lying on your stomach, hands under shoulders, propped up on your elbows.  This position helps to facilitate postural control and a chin tuck especially if game pieces, books, puzzles, etc are placed on the floor.
2. Small weight shifts while sitting on an exercise ball.  When you move back and forth or side to side on a therapy ball, very slowly and in control you are activating your pelvic and trunk muscles to keep your body stable.
3. Animal walks or yoga poses.  Try different animal walks or yoga poses that require activation of the trunk and hip muscles.  For example, cat/camel pose, crab walking, bear walking, etc.
4.  Swinging.  Maintaining your balance while pumping a swing requires a significant amount of postural control.  Challenge the child’s postural responses by occasionally stopping and starting the swing.  The child will have to activate their postural muscles to maintain upright.
5. Add kneeling, squatting or sit to stand transfers to any activity.  When you perform those actions you activate the hip and trunk muscles. Position toys so a child has to squat down to pick something up.  Put toys a low table or bench and the child can kneel to play.  Use vertical surfaces (ie whiteboard on a wall, magnetic wall, etc) so child has to sit to stand to complete the activity. Play Strong includes 40+ playful activities that encourage muscle strengthening in children.

This post is part of the Functional Skills for Kids series is on mealtime. This series is a 12-month long series written by occupational and physical therapy bloggers on the development of 12 functional skills for children. Stop by to see what the other occupational therapists and physical therapists in the Functional Skills for Kids series have written on mealtime.

When Can Kids Feed Themselves? (and other mealtime milestones) | Mama OT

Fine Motor Skills For Mealtimes  | Therapy Fun Zone

Postural Control, Gross Motor Development and Mealtime  |Your Therapy Source

Attention, Behavior, and Meal Time Problems | Sugar Aunts

4 Ways to Modify Meal Times for Fussy Eaters  | Your Kids OT

Mealtime Skills, Rituals & Play – Nurturing a Love for Food | Kids Play Space

15 Tips for Picky Eaters | The Inspired Treehouse

Positioning, Motor Skills, and Table Manners: What the Connection? | Miss Jaime OT

Visual Perceptual Skills Needed for Independent Feeding | Growing Hands-On Kids

References:

Furano et al and Parks, S (2014). HELP® Checklist 0-3 Birth to Three Years. VORT Corporation.

Redstone, F., & West, J. F. (2004). The importance of postural control for feeding. Pediatric nursing, 30(2), 97.

Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. Physical, Sensory and Oral Motor Development. Retrieved from the web on 10/25/16 at http://ift.tt/2eL4qs8.

Teaford, P et al (2010). HELP® Checklist 3-6 Checklist. VORT Corporation.

 

The post Postural Control, Gross Motor Development and Mealtime appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

How Do Gross Motor Skills Affect Academics?

Most school staff are already aware of the physical benefits of exercise, such as strengthening of the heart and lungs, preventing weight gain, healthy bones, good posture and more. However, many are not aware of the potential brain-boosting benefits of physical activity with regard to school performance.  Unfortunately, students are missing out on opportunities to accomplish this physical activity. For example, years ago kindergarten was meant to teach children how to play, listen, follow rules and interact with peers.  Now kindergarten teachers, and even preschools teachers, are forced to spend more time on structured, academic instruction. This frequently translates into more seatwork time and less movement and active free play time. Physical education class and recess are usually the first things cut when more academic time is required for remediation in reading and math skills. At the end of the day, the children are spending too much time in a sedentary mode.  Research indicates that this sedentary lifestyle has a negative effect on cognitive development.

How do gross motor skills/physical activity affect academics?

Gross motor skills are completed by using the larger muscles in the body to roll, sit up, crawl, walk, run, jump, leap, hop, skip and more.  Regular participation in these types of physical activities has been associated with improved academic performance and important school day functions, such as attention and memory.  Even a baby’s ability to sit up unsupported has a profound effect on their ability to learn about objects (Woods, 2013).

One of the greatest brain gains of exercise is the ability for physical activity to improve actual brain function by helping nerve cells to multiply, creating more connections for learning (Cotman, 2002; Ferris, 2007).  Research has shown that an increase in physical activity has a significant positive effect on cognition, especially for early elementary and middle school students (Sibley, 2002).  As an added bonus, being physically fit as a child may make you smarter for longer as you grow old. (Deary, 2006).

Recent research indicates that regular participation in physical activity may improve academic performance.  Schools that have added physical activity into their curriculum showed a 6% increase in student’s standardized test scores when compared to peers who had inactive lessons (Donnelly, 2011). One comprehensive research review included 59 studies, indicated a significant and positive effect of physical activity on children’s achievement and cognitive outcomes, with aerobic exercise having the greatest effect (Fedewa & Ahn, 2011).  Ninety minutes per week of cardiorespiratory fitness has been associated with improvements in the cognitive control of working memory in preadolescent children.  Children who participated in 90 minutes/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity during an after school program displayed improvements in working memory (Kamijo, 2011). Physically active lessons including physical activity breaks have been shown to reduce time-off-task (20.5%) and improve reading, math, spelling and composite scores (Kibbe, 2011).  In another study, children who participated in physically active lessons had significantly greater gains in mathematics speed test, general mathematics, and spelling scores although no changes were seen in reading scores (Marijke J., 2016).

Physical education classes and recess offer opportunities for students to increase physical activity throughout the school day.  Although, at times children are sedentary even during these periods.  Research indicated that children who participate in physical activity during physical education lessons may facilitate immediate and delayed memory (Pesce, 2009).  Many studies show that the more vigorous the physical activity is the larger the effects on academic performance (Carlson, 2008; Castelli, 2011).

Even acute bouts of physical activity have been shown to improve cognition.  One study revealed that preadolescent children who completed 20 minutes of treadmill training at a moderate pace responded to test questions on reading, spelling, and arithmetic with greater accuracy and had improved reading comprehension compared to children who had been sitting.  In addition, the children completed learning tasks faster and more accurately were more likely to read above their grade level following the physical activity (Hillman, 2009).  Perhaps try some of these 10 easy, physically active ways to get the brain ready for testing.

How do gross motor skills/physical activity affect concentration?

Teachers know all too well how much effort is spent on trying to get and maintain students’ attention. Teachers try frequent questioning, moving about the room, changing tone of voice and many more techniques. An alternative method for teachers to increase attention, concentration and on-task behavior may be to incorporate bouts of physical activity throughout the school day. Research has shown that some children who participated in an in-class physical activity program improved their on-task behaviors by 20 percent (Mahar, 2006). Additional research regarding physical activity and school performance revealed that physical activity may improve concentration (Taras, 2005).  Active lessons that require more coordinated gross motor skills such as balancing, reaction time, etc. were associated with better concentration on academic tasks (Budde, 2008).

How to increase gross motor skills/physical activity during the school day:

There are many ways to incorporate more physical activity and movement breaks into a school day. One of the easiest ways to increase physical activity time is to add physical education classes and recess. However, this can be the most difficult to accomplish within a school day since so much time is already devoted to structured learning.  If additional physical education and recess time is not available, work on incorporating physical movement throughout the school day with brain breaks. During transitions from one subject matter to another, perform short bouts of exercises such as jumping in place, dancing to music or jumping jacks.  Help teachers develop multisensory lessons that incorporate movement with academics. Not only will the multisensory activities increase movement time, but they may also assist kinesthetic learners to improve academically.  By teaming up with members of the school and community, physical and occupational therapists can help make active changes to children’s patterns of physical fitness, health and cognitive function!

This post is part of the Functional Skills for Kids series is school day functions.  This series is a 12-month long series written by occupational and physical therapy bloggers on the development of 12 functional skills for children.  Stop by to see what the other occupational therapists and physical therapists in the Functional Skills for Kids series have written on the school day functions.

Fine Motor Skills Needed at School and Classroom Activities | Sugar Aunts

How Do Gross Motor Skills Affect Academics?  | Your Therapy Source

40 Helpful Strategies for Students with Sensory Challenges | Mama OT

Brain Breaks to Help Concentration in the Classroom | Your Kids OT

Things You can do at Home to Help Your Child in School | Therapy Fun Zone

Tips for Following Directions in the Classroom and Home  | Growing Hands-On Kids

Positioning In The Classroom |Miss Jaime OT

10 Transition Strategies for Kids: Preventing Tantrums  | The Inspired Treehouse

The Case for More Play in the School Setting   | Kids Play Space

 

This post is part of the Functional Skills for Kids: 12 Month series by Occupational and Physical Therapists. Read all of my monthly posts in this series HERE.

References:

Active Living Research (2015). Active Education: Growing Evidence on Physical Activity and Academic Performance.  Retrieved from the web on 8/15/16 at http://ift.tt/1Ecn9Bm

Budde H, Voelcker-Rehage C, Pietrabyk-Kendziorra S, Ribeiro P, Tidow G. (2008) Acute coordinative exercise improves attentional performance in adolescents. Neurosci Lett. 441(2):219–223.

Carlson SA, Fulton JE, Lee SM, et al. (2008) Physical education and academic achievement in elementary school: Data from early childhood longitudinal study. Am J Public Health. 98(4):721-727. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.117176.

Castelli DM, Hillman CH, Hirsch J, Hirsch A, Drollette E. (2011)  FIT Kids: time in target heart zone and cognitive performance. Prev Med. 52(Suppl 1):S55-S59

Cotman, C., & Engesser-Cesar, C. (2002). Exercise enhances and protects brain function. Exercise and Sport Science Review, 30(2), 75-79.

Deary, I., Whalley, L., et al. (2006). Physical fitness and lifetime cognitive change. Neurology, 67, 1195-1200.

Donnelly JE, Lambourne K. (2011) Classroom-based physical activity, cognition, and academic achievement. Prev Med. 52 (Suppl 1):S36-S42.

Fedewa AL & Ahn S. (2011) The effects of physical activity and physical fitness on children’s achievement and cognitive outcomes: a meta-analysis.
Res Q Exerc Sport. 82(3):521-535.

Ferris, L., Williams, J., & Shen, C. (2007). The effect of acute exercise on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive function. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 39(4), 728-734.

Hillman CH, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Castelli DM, Hall EE, Kramer AF. (2009). The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience. 159(3):1044-1054. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.057.

Kamijo K, Pontifex MB, O’Leary KC, et al. (2011). The effects of an afterschool physical activity program on working memory in preadolescent children. Dev Sci. 14(5):1046-1058. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01054.x

Kibbe Dl, Hackett J, Hurley M, et al. (2011) Ten years of TAKE 10!: integrating physical activity with academic concepts in elementary school classrooms. Prev Med.52(Suppl 1):S43-S50.

Mahar, M., Murphy, S., Rowe, D., et al. (2006). Effects of a classroom-based program on physical activity and on-task behavior. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 38(12), 2086-2094.

Marijke J.  et al (2016). Physically Active Math and Language Lessons Improve Academic Achievement: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Pediatrics, Mar 24;137(3):e20152743. Epub 2016 Feb 24.

Pesce et al (2009) Physical activity and mental performance in preadolescents: effects of acute exercise on free-recall memory. Ment Health Phys Act. 2(1):16–22.

Sibley, B., & Etnier, J. (2002). The effects of physical activity on cognition in children: A meta anaylsis. Medical Science of Sports and Exercise, 4(5), 214.

Taras, H. (2005). Physical activity and student performance at school. Journal of School Health, 75(6), 214-218.

Woods RJ & Wilcox T. (2013). Posture support improves object individuation in infants. Dev Psychol. Aug;49(8):1413-24. doi: 10.1037/a0030344. Epub 2012 Oct 8.

 

 

 

 

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