Did you know that your hand has two sides?

Your hand has two sides.  I'm not talking about your palm and the back of the hand.

I'm referring to the first three fingers of your hand as one group and your fourth and fifth fingers as the second group.

Here is a photo to explain what I mean.

The ability to use these two sides of the hands separately is called the "dissociation of the two sides of the hand".  It is an important skill for manipulation and use of tools such as pencils, cutlery, scissors, etc.  

When our "side 2" is stable {curled up into our palm or extended away from the other fingers}, we are best able to control "side 1" for precise movement. 

Your Kids OT

Infants begin to develop this dissociation of their hand during crawling and tummy time activities. This is further developed as a toddler and preschooler with the manipulation of small objects and toys in daily activities.

How does hand dissociation affect activity performance?
In handwriting, you may notice your child moves their whole hand {and often their arm} across the page as they write.  This may result in slow work and a lack of fluency of movement.  It may also result in poor legibility as your child may not be able to control the pencil in a precise manner.

In cutting, you may notice your child has difficulty manipulating the paper to turn as they cut out a shape. 

In buttoning a shirt, you may notice your child is unable hold the button hole with one hand and the button in the other hand.  This involves precise control and stability with both hands working together.

In tying shoelaces, you may notice your child has difficulty stabilising the laces to tie the bow. Learning to tie shoelaces may be very frustrating for a child who has difficulty with hand dissociation.

Your child may appear "clumsy" or "all fingers and thumbs" when trying activities such as these.

What can you do?
To assist a child with separating the two sides of their hand you can encourage them to hold something with side 2 whilst using side 1.  

For example, your child may try holding a piece of Lego, a ball of playdough, cotton wool, an eraser, a button or a coin with their 4th and 5th fingers.  They can attempt any of the activity suggestions below whilst holding onto this item.

Activity suggestions - 

• poking toothpicks into playdough, theraputty or marshmellows;
• threading activities;
• travel games with small parts (eg. Connect Four, Battle ship);
• manipulating pipecleaners or wikki sticks to create shapes and pictures;
• tearing pieces of paper;
• scrunching paper into balls;
• pulling apart cotton wool balls;
• pulling "post it" stickers off their pad;
• placing coins into a piggy bank;
• using water guns or squirt bottles;
• using pegs on a low clothes horse; and
• placing stickers onto paper;
• building a lego creation.

Read more about the separation of the two sides of the hand at The Happy Handwriter. 

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Writing charms are little toys attached to a pencil to help aid the stability of a child's hand.  I haven't used them in therapy and I am unaware of an Australian distributor.  However, they may be purchased at http:www.funandfunction.com in the USA.

{Note: I have not received any renumeration for this post.}

Have you noticed that your child moves their hand as one unit?  Do they have difficulty with handwriting, cutting, buttoning or tying shoes? Does it affect your child with another activity?  

Try incorporating some of these activities into your child's play this week.