5 FREE Positioning Handouts

As pediatric therapists, we are well aware that children need to have stable and strong proximal muscles of the trunk and shoulder girdle in order to use the distal muscles in the fingers and hands.   When we observe in classrooms, we frequently see positioning of children that could use modification.  Perhaps you modify the desk and chair and off you go to see the next student.  Teachers and parents can benefit from informational hand outs to provide visual images and written reminders of proper positioning at school at home.  Here are FREE positioning hand outs (keep in mind Positioning for Scissor Skills is available this week ONLY):

Proper Posture for Handwriting – this freebie includes a positioning poster for handwriting along with a few sample handwriting practice pages.

Proper Positioning for Keyboarding Rubric – Here is a free rubric on the proper positioning for keyboarding from the Keyboard Rubrics digital download. School based occupational and physical therapists are frequently involved in evaluating positioning needs in the schools including computer stations. With more and more children spending countless hours in front of a computer screen, proper positioning is essential to prevent long term complications with posture or overuse injuries.

Positioning for Play – Most of the time during play, children will move in and out of positions frequently which is wonderful. When children are in one position for a longer period of time, there are some general guidelines based on the position of the child.  This hand out provides suggestions for positioning during play in supine (back), prone (belly), sitting and standing.

Proper Positioning When Using Scissors – This free poster provides a one page color OR black and white hand out for proper positioning when using scissors.  Only available for FREE for the week starting 4/24/17 to celebrate the new Scissors Skills Book which will be available on 5/1/17.

Work Station, Positioning and Keyboarding Skills – Young children and students continue to spend more and more time keyboarding for written expression. Whether it be at home before children are school aged or sitting long hours typing away throughout a child’s educational career or even as adults, the work station must be set up efficiently to allow for proper positioning while keyboarding.

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Motor Coordination and Academic Achievement

Frontiers in Psychology published research on the relationship between between motor skills, cognitive function, and school performance in 45 students from 8 to 14 years of age.   Each participant completed the following to assess different skill areas: 1) Touch Test Disc for motor skill coordination, 2) Shuttle Run Speed—running back and forth for agility,  3) Academic Achievement Test for school performance, 4) the Stroop test for s elective attention and concentration, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control and 5) Six sub-tests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV) for cognitive function.  Using a cross sectional design, the results indicated the following:

• the Touch Test Disc was the best predictor of school performance.  The Touch Test Disc test requires the individual to keep the non-dominant hand in the rectangle box in the center, then touch with the dominant hand in the circle on the opposite side, crossing his arm over the other, and come back to complete one cycle. It is scored by measuring the smallest amount of time is takes to complete 25 correct cycles out of three trials.
• significant correlations between motor coordination and several indices of cognitive function, such as the total score of the Academic Achievement Test and two WISC-IV sub-tests: block design and cancellation.
• all the other cognitive variables pointed in the same direction, and even correlated with agility, but did not reach statistical significance.

The researchers concluded that visual motor coordination and visual selective attention, but not agility, may influence academic achievement and cognitive function.

Reference:  Fernandes, V. R., Ribeiro, M. L. S., Melo, T., de Tarso Maciel-Pinheiro, P., Guimarães, T. T., Araújo, N. B., … & Deslandes, A. C. (2016). Motor coordination correlates with academic achievement and cognitive function in children. Frontiers in psychology, 7.

Move Like Me – Digital download includes action poses for children to practice motor planning, crossing midline, body awareness, timing, rhythm, coordination and physical activity. This is a NO PREP activity. Simply print and play or project onto the whiteboard or tablet.  Find Out More Information.

 

 

 

 

 

25 Bilateral Coordination Exercises – Download of 28 bilateral coordination exercise sheets including QR codes with links to video demonstration of exercises. Also includes hand out explaining bilateral coordination. Find Out More Information.

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