The training gives some insights into Fine & Gross Motor skills for preschool teachers. There is a slide highlights skills for children 0-12 months.

1. +
MELS 2015 – Hand Function in the Child &
Fundamental Cognitive Development (FCD)
20th
June 2015 – Malaysia
Speaker: Kay Yong, Khoo

2. +
Long-short
Numbers
Colours ShapesWords
Five Principles of basic counting is introduced to help children to grasp the
properties of numeracy (Gelman & Gallistel, 1978).
1. Map each element of the counted set onto one and only one number (numeron);
2. Order the numbers and use the order to map items to be counted.
3. The order in which different elements are mapped is irrelevant to the counting process;
4. Counting applies to all sorts of physical objects;
5. The last number (numeron) used during a count represents a property of the entire set.
Gelman, R., & Gallistel, C.R. (1978). The child's understanding of number. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.

3. +
Long-short
Numbers
Colours
ShapesWords
Children do not realize that colours are nameable properties(Sandhofer &
Smith, 2001; Soja, 1994). Along with learning what each colour is called,
children need to understand what colour represents; it’s not size, nor
shape, nor the name of the object, nor the texture, not the number of
things showing. Constant repetition and expanding on what colours are
and what they are not will help any child to understand what the actual
word colour means.
References:
Sandhofer, C.M., & Smith, L.B. (2001). Why Children learn Color and Size Words So Differently:
Evidence From Adult's Learning of Artificial Terms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(4), 600-
620.
Soja, N.N. (1994). Young children's concept of color and its relation to the acquisition of color words. Child
Development, 65(1994), 918-937.

4. + Colour:
Red

5. + Colour
:
Red

6. + Colour
:
Red

7. + Colour
:
Red

8. + Colour
:
Red

9. +
Long-short
Numbers
Colours ShapesWords
Lead children to understand the dimensional adjectives (e.g. the opposing
pair of words: high and low) are the class of words that refer to the
perceptible properties of individual objects(Carey, 1982; Gasser & Smith,
1998).
References:
Gasser, M., & Smith, L.B. (1998). Learning nouns and adjectives:
A connectionist account. Language and Cognitive Processes, 13(1998), 269-306.

10. +
Long-short
NumbersColours
Shapes
Words
Introduce 10 different shapes to children. For each of the shapes
introduced, demonstrate the non-integral attributes (e.g. size and
orientation) and derive the real objects to different shapes.
Carey, S. (1982). Semantic development. In E. Wanner & L. R. Gleitman (Eds.), Language acquisition: The
state of the art. Cambridge: University Press.

11. +
Long-short
NumbersColours
Shapes
Words
Introduce 10 different shapes to children. For each of the shapes
introduced, demonstrate the non-integral attributes (e.g. size and
orientation) and derive the real objects to different shapes.
Carey, S. (1982). Semantic development. In E. Wanner & L. R. Gleitman (Eds.), Language acquisition: The
state of the art. Cambridge: University Press.

12. +
Long-short
NumbersColours
Words
Shapes
Children often find thematic relations between objects to be more
salient(Markman & Hutchinson, 1984). The words are introduced in
different themes. Once the words are introduced, the words are placed in
problem solving activities for children to engage with the words regularly. In
addition, the words are also used in various contexts to help the children’s
to broaden their knowledge (e.g. the word “dog” has to match with different
kind of dogs.)
Markman, Ellen. M., & Hutchinson, J.E. (1984). Children's Sensitivity to Constraints on Word
Meaning:Taxonomic versus Thematic Relations. Cognitive Psychology, 16(1984), 1-27.

13. + Words

14. +
Group Activity 1
Identify the principal of 5-step in counting
10 minutes

15. +
Motor learning theory emphasizes that skills are acquired using specific
strategies and are refined through a great deal of repetition and the
transfer of skills to other tasks Croce(Croce & DePaepe, 1989).
Opportunities of a new motor skill are extremely important in moving
a skill from the level of needing conscious attention in its use to the level
of spontaneous and automatic use.
Croce, R., & DePaepe, J. (1989). A critique of therapeutic intervention programming with reference to an
alternative approach based on motor learning theory. Physical and Occupational Theraphy in Pediatrics, 9(3),
5-33.

16. +
A child’s interest in an activity-
It is meaningful;
It is significance for the child.
Hand skill intervention cannot be done to a child; it must be done with the
child’s belief that he or she can be successful in accomplishing the
activities presented (Pehoski, 1992).
Pehoski, C. (1992). Central nervous system control of precision movements of the hand. In J. Case-Smith &
C. Pehoski (Eds.), Development of hand skills in the child (pp. 1-11). Rockville, MD: The American
Occupational Therapy Association.

17. +
The hand has two functions:
Executive and Perceptual organ

18. +
Data from Lederman SJ, Klatzky RL (1987). Hand movements: a window into haptic
recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 19: 342-368

19. +

20. +
Cognitive processes in Motor Skills
Attention  Perception  Concept formation Memory Learning

21. +
Three stages of learning to acquire a new skill –
•Exploratory activity
•Perceptual learning and feedback acquired from previous
tasks performed. Actions initially tried and ineffective are
discarded.
•Discovery of the optimal solutions & generalizes movement
patterns to other tasks

22. +
Purposes of using hands
Self-care, Curious & Play

23. + Self-care and hand skill
• Eating
• Dressing
• Bathing
• Toileting

24. + Fine Motor Skills• Whole Arm
• Whole Hand
• Pincher
• Pincer
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/MELS.English
24

25. +
Whole arm Whole hand Pincher Pincer
25
(Michelle Huffman & Fortenberry, 2011)

26. +
The learning orientations:
Intra-modal
comparison
Intermodal
comparison
Haptic - Visual
Haptic – Haptic
Visual - Visual
The child looks at an
object they are
manipulating, they
see the object from
different points of
view and can learn
about its properties.
The child
acquires tactile
and kinesthetic
information
about the object
through active
touch.
The ability to use visual
imagery to improve haptic
recognition and memory of
objects is thought to
contribute to children’s
ability to recognize objects
on tests of haptic perception
and reproduce objects
through drawings

27. + Hand skillsGrasp
-Crude palmar grasp (4-5 months)
-Palmar Grasp (5-6 months)
-Redial Palmar Grasp (6-7 months)
-Raking Grasp (7-8 months)
-Radial Digital Grasp (8-9 months)
-Pincer Grasp (10-12 months)

28. + Hand skills
Release
Automatic release  Purposeful release

29. + Hand skills
Motor skills
In-Hand Manipulation Skills
1.Finger-to-palm translation
2.Palm-to-finger translation
3. Shift: Slight adjustment of the object on or by the fingers
pads
4. Simple rotation: Turning or rolling the object 90 degrees or
less, with the fingers acting as a unit
5. Complex rotation: Turning an object over using isolated
finger and thumb movements

30. + Hand skills

31. +
Group Activity 2
Using the tables and find the answer for the
following questions.
10 minutes

32. + Group Activity 2
1. Peter is 2 years old. Can he reach his back with both
hands when put on clothes?
2. Jane is 6 months old. Can she open mouth for teeth to be
brushed?
3. Jack is 18 months old. Can he put head through hole
when he wear a T-shirt?
4. Mary is 4 year old. Can she button back buttons (without
seeing them)?
5. Sally is a teacher. She teaches a class of 20 months old
children. Can they comb hair independently?
6. In the next lesson, Sally would like to teach them to rubs
hands together for cleaning, can the children?
7. Ali is 15 months old. Can he hold a spoon with one hand
to eat while holding the plate on the other hand to
stabilize it?

33. +Activities for children
1. On the beach
5. Safari
7. Castle
8.A stage performance
6. The garden
3. Museum
4.A night
scene
2. The
kitchen
2
6
1
3
2
3
4
4
5
5
1
6
7
7
8
8

34. +
Children progress through a range of precursor
grips- palmar, incomplete tripod (or palmar
supinate), and static tripod, dynamic tripod grip.
Drawing/Writing

35. +
Group Activity 3
Activities with apps
20 minutes

36. +
Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor (physical) skills are those which require whole body
movement and which involve the large (core stabilising) muscles of the
body to perform everyday functions, such as standing, walking,
running, and sitting upright. It also includes eye-hand coordination
skills such as ball skills (throwing, catching, kicking).
Stabilizing Loco motor Manipulating

37. +
Gross Motor Skills

38. +
Gross Motor Skills

39. +
Gross Motor Skills

40. + Gross Motor Skills

41. + Gross Motor Skills

42. + Gross Motor Skills

43. + Gross Motor Skills

44. + Gross Motor Skills

45. +
Gross Motor Skills

46. +
Gross Motor Skills
Hands-eyes-body
movement

47. +
Gross Motor Skills
Hands-eyes-body
(audio &
movement)

48. +
Gross Motor Skills
Hands-eyes-body

49. +
Gross Motor Skills
Hands-eyes-body