App Review: Dexteria Jr.

Dexteria Jr. - Fine Motor Skill Development for Toddlers & Preschoolers
By Binary Labs                        Cost $2.99 single user and $9.99 multi-user.

For iphone

For ipad

For ipad (Version allows multiple user reporting and tracking)

Dexteria Jr is one in a series of apps by Binlary Labs Inc, designed in collaboration with Occupational Therapists.
 
Dexteria Jr. includes hand and finger exercises that are designed to help develop fine motor skills and handwriting readiness. Dexteria Jr is designed with children 2-6 year olds in mind (ie. preschoolers), however I have found it great for older kids who are continuing to work on pre-writing skills such asfluency and pencil control.

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Dexteria Jr contains 3 main activities which contain various levels within each activity.  These activities are "Squish the Squash", "Trace and Erase" and "Pinch the Pepper".

Squish the Squash requires the user to isolate their index finger to find the moving squash on the screen. As it progresses through the levels the number of squash increases and you are also required to press the same squash a few times in order to squish it away. 

The user is encouraged to tap the squash as fast as they can.  The repetitive tapping helps to develop fine motor finger control, finger isolation and strength.

Kids enjoy seeing the squash get flattened and disappear.  The animation is fun.

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Trace and Erase is a series of paths that require fluent motion of the finger to draw. There are 29 levels with a progression from straight lines, diagonals, zig zags to more complicated paths with multiple turns.

At each level, the user needs to start at the green arrow and draw along the path to the star (ie. trace). The next step is to drag the eraser along the previously drawn path to reveal the ipad screen underneath (ie. erase).  When all the lines or paths have been erased then it is time to pull a funny face and have your photo taken.   Each time the photo is "distorted" like looking at those funny mirrors at amusement parks.  Kids really love this aspect of the app and it is a motivating factor in finishing the paths.

I like to encourage the use of a stylus with this app as I think you can achieve even more goals in a therapy session. You can encourage a dynamic pencil grasp, pencil control, eye-hand coordination and visual perceptual skills.  

29 levels in Trace and Erase (from Dexteria Jr).

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Pinch the Pepper encourages the user to use their pincer grasp (ie. movement of the thumb and index finger together in a pinch) to remove the peppers.  As it gets harder the peppers are more numerous and move faster across the screen.  Yellow peppers are also to be avoided as they produce multiple red peppers if pinched by mistake.

Kids with weak hand muscles may tire of this activity. You can stop at any level at any time (as you can with the above two activities as well).  I find that the kids that I see for OT will not complete all the levels of all the activities in one sitting.  It can be time consuming and tiring.  I often set these as "homework" activities which can be completed through the week.

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Dexteria Jr. Activity Log

The reporting feature of the app allows parents, teachers and therapists to monitor your child's accuracy and speed in completing these activities. Each level is recorded and you may email the report to relevant others.  This is a handy feature where you may measure a child's progress over time or after a block of therapy.  

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I would highly recommend this app for parents, teachers and therapists.  It targets fine motor and pre-writing skill development.  With the additional use of a stylus this app can be used well beyond the pre-school years that it was designed for.  I have found that I use this app the most often, in relation to the other Dexteria apps available. Whilst they have merit, this app has the fun, variety and skill focus that is of the most use to me as therapist.

Here is a video demonstrating the use of the app produced by the developers.  If you are receiving this post via email, you may need to click on the title of this post (which will take you to a live web page) before being able to view the video.

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Have you tried Dexteria Jr.? What do your kids think of it?

Note:  This app is not currently available for Android.  I noticed that the original Dexteria app is available for Android. Please contact the developer for information about this app becoming available for Android users.   


This article contains affiliate links.  I have not received remuneration for this article and all opinions are my own.