Sunday, May 29, 2011

Isolation of index finger in grasp

After doing "heavy work" activities for development of proprioception in the hands, then it's time to move on to activities which encourage isolation of individual fingers, especially the development of pincer grasp with the index finger and thumb.  

Using the miniature Connect Four game, we can encourage the use of a pincer grasp by the use of a little cup to hold the tiny checkers.  Now the child can't grasp the checker with a gross grasp or with all his fingers; he has to isolate the index finger to reach down into the cup to get a checker.



You can change the activity slightly by asking the child to hold the cup in one hand, while grasping and placing the checker with the other.  Now it is an activity which also requires bilateral coordination with differentiation of function of the two hands, that is, the use of both hands with each hand performing a different function.