I recently
came across an article titled “Losing our grip: More students entering schools
without fine motor skills”. I’m not an Early Childhood Major, but I definitely
see the effects of this in the lower elementary classrooms that I have been in
recently.
The article
reports that as many as 90% of students enter Kindergarten without enough hand
strength or coordination to use scissors. Also, more than ½ hold a pencil
incorrectly. Valuable time is being taken away from lessons in order to reteach
skills that are traditionally introduced at home earlier in a child’s life. It
not only costs classroom time, but districts are losing money by hiring
Occupational Therapist at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Much can
be blamed on technology. Gone are the days of children waiting in restaurants
for food with crayons and a coloring sheet, now parents unconsciously hand over
an electronic device.
The article
suggests skills that could be taught in the home, things that were commonplace
before the introduction of video game systems. Tummy time as infants to build
core, arm and hand strength, playing with dough or putty, stringing beads or
pasta, and zipping, snapping or tying (no Velcro).
This is the writing
of a 4th grader (10 years old) that I recently subbed for…
…it
just makes me sad.
(This student told his teacher that I
was his aunt, but I am friends with his aunt.)
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