What is cross crawl? Cross crawl refers to movements in which we use opposition such as crawling, walking, running, and swimming. Opposition means that opposite sides of the body work together to coordinate the right arm and left leg, then the left arm and right leg. Therapeutically, cross crawl refers to any intentional cross-lateral activity […]
Do you work with students who have a difficult time crossing midline? Perhaps they experience visual spatial issues? These crossing midline exercises can not only help children crossing from left to right or right to left, they also encourage bilateral coordination skills, balance and strengthening. Crossing Midline Exercises #1 – Side bends You can perform […]
The Ultimate Guide to Bilateral Coordination Skills Bilateral coordination is the ability to use the right and left sides of the body together at the same time or with alternating movements. For example, when you push a stroller or pick up a large object you are using your right and left sides of the body together with the […]
Crossing midline is the ability to cross over an imaginary line down the center of your body from head to toes, separating the body into a left and right side. This skill requires that the right and left sides of the brain work together to create a motor action. Here are 10 games to play […]
Teaching children right from left can be a difficult concept. The ability to determine whether you are using your right or left hand requires higher level spatial awareness, body awareness and motor planning skills. This right or left hand poster is from the Right or Left Games packet. You can download it for free (see […]
If you need to sneak in some bimanual and fine motor skills practice with academic material, the Slide Bag Quiz is perfect! I was reading a blog post by Dr. Jean (excellent blog) on individual response techniques and she suggested a slide bag. It seemed like a creative idea so I gave it a try. […]
Frontiers in Psychology published research on the relationship 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 […]
Pediatrics International published research on 100 Brazilian children (ages 8-11 years old) evaluating interlimb coordination and its relationship to their academic performance. Each child was assessed with the Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and the Academic Performance Test. Participants were grouped into low (<25%) and high (>75%) academic achievers. The results indicated: a significant difference between groups […]
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AND SCISSOR USE We continue the Functional Skills for Kids Series with scissor skills. This post is part of a series written by occupational and physical therapy bloggers on developing 12 functional skills for children. Each month we will discuss the development of one functional skill in children addressing the many components […]
Perceptual and Motor Skills published research on the effects of an acute bout of coordinative exercise in physical education on the attention of 90 primary school children. The experimental group consisted of 48 children who received a cognitively demanding physical education 45 minute lesson consisting of different coordination exercises. The control group consisted of 42 […]