Struggle with Preschool Time

[unregistered]

I have a dcg who will be 5 next month. She struggles greatly with fine motor skills and ability to focus on a task or entertain herself. She is extremely distracted, but does love arts/crafts/school activities. I've worked with her a lot and I've seen so much improvement, but we still have a way to go. My biggest concern is how much attention to give to her during specific activities. During outside play she does pretty well playing with the other kids. She does want me to do things for her such as push her on the swing, pull her around in a wagon, play ball with her, etc. I play with all of the kids some, but then tell her to go play. I remind her to use her muscles & pump on the swing, play with other kids, etc.
The big problem is during preschool time. She wants to cut with scissors like some of the other kids do, but she doesn't have the muscle strength to open & close them so she wants me to help her hand over hand. If I put out playdoh she struggles with rolling balls or flattening it b/c of the fine motor skills needed so she constantly asks me to do it for her. She won't do lacing activities b/c of the same problem. I put out fun activities that would be great for developing the fine motor skills, but if she struggles she calls for me repeatedly. When I encourage her to try by herself (after repeated attempts at modeling) she will sit and do nothing rather than try. Then she gets into trouble picking on other kids b/c she's bored. How much assistance should I offer her? I honestly believe she is seeking my attention more than anything, but its draining and I'm struggling. She will be in my kindergarten program in the fall so I need a game plan for dealing with this. Thanks!

[Thriftylady]

It could be partly attention, but why is she struggling so much to begin with? Has she been fully tested for the cause? It seems odd to me that at that age she can't roll out play doh or lace cards. I am not sure you can fix the issue without knowing the why. Of course there is the possibility while struggling with it, she has found it does get her attention, but you need to solve issue one and then you can work on issue two.

As far as not being able to entertain herself, what is it like at home? We are all seeing this more and more due to the amount of screen time kids are getting. I see it all the time now it seems at the DMV, the doctor's office, restaurants parents just hand over tablets and phones to keep them entertained. The kids don't learn to entertain themselves, because they don't have to. Come to think of it, that could be part of her motor issues also. Either way I think you need to start with talking to the parents more.

[Unregistered]

She has struggled greatly due to being born premature. She has gone through many therapies, but aged out for the local program. I know she could go through the public school system, but dcm doesn't want to go that route at this point in time. There is legitimate issue with inability to do these types of activities, but she definitely plays it as well. She doesn't have muscle strength in her hands, but I don't know how to increase it if she refuses to work the muscles. Its so frustrating.

[Unregistered]

When I ask her what she does for fun at him she always says "watch cartoons & movies." So you're probably right about the screw time contributing to the issue.

[Unregistered]

Oh my goodness. I meant screen time at home, not screw time! Sorry!

[Thriftylady]

Oh my goodness. I meant screen time at home, not screw time! Sorry!

I knew what you meant but I got a chuckle. Would mom be on board with working on some things at home that would help?

[spedmommy4]

I knew what you meant but I got a chuckle. Would mom be on board with working on some things at home that would help?

I agree with with this, but I would not target this mom specifically. Maybe send home things once a week for the kiddos who are entering Kindergarten? If mom sees the little one having difficult, she might be open to it.

Kids born prematurely are at risk for learning difficulties in school so it would be ideal to get referred now. But ultimately, if the school district is good, they are going to catch and refer her for services in Kindergarten.

[Thriftylady]

I agree with with this, but I would not target this mom specifically. Maybe send home things once a week for the kiddos who are entering Kindergarten? If mom sees the little one having difficult, she might be open to it.

Kids born prematurely are at risk for learning difficulties in school so it would be ideal to get referred now. But ultimately, if the school district is good, they are going to catch and refer her for services in Kindergarten.

I agree, your idea is perfect. If I had things to do all over again, I would have done things differently with DD. She was tested but even then we didn't realize how socially behind she really was. If we had it would have made a difference. She is great now, but it has taken a ton of work.

[kendallina]

If she's going to kindy in the fall, the school district will get services for her when she gets there. There probably isn't anything that they can do during the summer (at least our district doesn't).

My daughter has difficulty with fine motor skills (although not nearly as much difficulty as this child it seems) and one of her teachers told us that children build muscles from their core out...meaning that their big muscles need to get stronger first, then their smaller muscles can. It was suggested that we do things to increase my daughters upper arm muscles and core muscles first. Climbing trees, playing wheel barrow (where her arms are on the ground adn mom holds her legs and dcg 'walks' on her hands). They also suggested having her carry heavy things or push heavy things around (think: putting toys in a laundry basket and pushing it around the house or making a race of it. Hope that helps!

[spedmommy4]

If she's going to kindy in the fall, the school district will get services for her when she gets there. There probably isn't anything that they can do during the summer (at least our district doesn't).

My daughter has difficulty with fine motor skills (although not nearly as much difficulty as this child it seems) and one of her teachers told us that children build muscles from their core out...meaning that their big muscles need to get stronger first, then their smaller muscles can. It was suggested that we do things to increase my daughters upper arm muscles and core muscles first. Climbing trees, playing wheel barrow (where her arms are on the ground adn mom holds her legs and dcg 'walks' on her hands). They also suggested having her carry heavy things or push heavy things around (think: putting toys in a laundry basket and pushing it around the house or making a race of it. Hope that helps!

The building from the core out is true as a general principal of child development. However, if little one has not met certain fine motor milestones by Kindergarten, it can really hinder them. Kindergarten, in most states, is very academic. My kiddos were doing a lot of sitting and writing.

Minimally, a referral would get supports in place for the Kindergarten school year. It is probably to late for preschool school district services but the child may qualify for occupational therapy services through the parents health insurance if there are issues with fine motor strengh. Could be worth a visit to the pediatricIan to look into it.

[kendallina]

The building from the core out is true as a general principal of child development. However, if little one has not met certain fine motor milestones by Kindergarten, it can really hinder them. Kindergarten, in most states, is very academic. My kiddos were doing a lot of sitting and writing.

This is sooo true. I cannot imagine kindergarten with a little one that cannot roll out playdough, etc. It will be very frustrating for her. The amount of worksheets that the kids do in kinder nowadays is crazy!

Minimally, a referral would get supports in place for the Kindergarten school year. It is probably to late for preschool school district services but the child may qualify for occupational therapy services through the parents health insurance if there are issues with fine motor strengh. Could be worth a visit to the pediatricIan to look into it.[/QUOTE]

Bolded-good point, definitely worth a try.

[Unregistered]

My childcare program offers a pre-K & Kindergarten curriculum so she will be attending kindergarten here rather than going through the public school system. Our program meets all of the academic standards for kindergarten, but its more hands-on rather than a lot of work sheets. Experiential learning better describes us and I believe this kind of a program is actually a better fit for her except that I don't have the option of referring her for services like a public school would. I've never had a student that struggled this much who wasn't already receiving outside services.

I do love the idea of sending home Kindergarten prep info each week to allow mom to see what I needed. I think I will do that. It is so hard to know what I a fair amount of attention to give her versus the other kids. And these issues are present during both preschool and daycare time so sometimes there are a lot of kids to juggle my time with.

[Unregistered]

Spell check keeps changing the word "is" to "I." Anyway, she will still have to sit and do academic work, but there will be a lot of opportunity for her to develop both gross motor & fine motor skills I can just get her to work on it.

[kendallina]

In that case, I would definitely have mom talk to the pediatrician so she can be assessed and possibly start seeing an occupational therapist.

And I LOVE that you do kindy in such a developmentally appropriate way for kiddos! If only we could convince everyone that that's how it should be...