Gross motor functions are the skills where large muscles of the body are being used to do big movements of body in space. These skills include standing, walking, running, jumping etc. muscle tone, posture, muscular strength plays vital role in developing these skills in children. The children will typically learn head control, trunk stability, and then standing up and walking (Humphrey). Any hindrance in gross motor development sequence can cause a gap in growth cycle leading to dysfunction.
Has not achieved/or is late in achieving the age appropriate gross motor milestones(i.e. sit, crawl, walk, run and hop).
Move stiffly and lacks fluid body movement or alternatively looks awkward and appears clumsy.
Avoid physical activity.
Participate in physical activity for only short periods (have low endurance).
Cannot maintain an upright posture when sitting on a mat or at a table top.
Be unable to perform the same skills as their peers (e.g. catch, kick, hop and jump).
Appear less skillful than their peers in sports.
Be unable to follow multiple step instructions to complete a physical task (e.g. obstacle course).
Be unable to plan and correctly sequence events or steps in a process (e.g. step forward before throwing).
Fail to perform movements safely (e.g. climbing).
Need to put in more effort than their peers to complete a task.
Tire frequently with physical activity.
Lose previously mastered skill if they do not keep practicing them.
Be unable to ‘generalize’ or transfer a skill (use the same skill in a different setting/way) (e.g. can easily change between throwing a big/heavy ball to a light/small ball).
Occupational therapy identifies delays or difficulties in sensory, motor, and cognitive skills and provides targeted interventions to help children develop the necessary abilities to reach age-appropriate milestones. Additionally, OT plays a crucial role in early intervention by detecting dysfunctions as they emerge—minimizing their impact on a child’s overall development.
At ABC Diagnostic & Learning Center, we offer some of the best occupational therapy services in Riyadh, with certified therapists delivering personalized care in a supportive, child-centered environment.
Fine motor skills involve the small, precise movements of the wrists, hands, fingers, feet, and toes. These abilities allow us to perform detailed tasks such as picking up small objects between the thumb and finger, writing neatly, and even blinking.
While both fine and gross motor skills are essential, they work together to support overall coordination. As we grow and face more complex challenges, our need for refined fine motor abilities increases. However, the foundation for these crucial skills is built early in childhood.
Children use fine motor skills in many everyday tasks, including:
Writing and drawing
Holding and manipulating small objects
Buttoning and zipping clothes
Turning book pages
Using eating utensils or scissors
Typing on keyboards or using tablets
Mastery of these skills requires not only precision but also strong hand-eye coordination and muscle control.
Fine motor development typically follows gross motor milestones. As children gain control over large muscle groups—demonstrated by actions like catching, throwing, or swinging—they build the core strength necessary to stabilize the arm. This foundation allows for more controlled movement of the forearm, wrist, and fingers.
ABC Center: Riyadh's Leading Provider for Fine Motor Development
At ABC Diagnostic & Learning Center, we focus on nurturing fine motor skills through personalized occupational therapy programs. Our team of certified therapists creates engaging, developmentally appropriate interventions to support children in gaining the coordination and strength needed for everyday success.
That’s why we are recognized as one of the best centers in Riyadh for fine motor skills therapy.
How can you detect your child has problems in fine motor skills
If your child:
Have messy, slow or laborious drawing, coloring or writing skills, not coloring within the lines, too light marks on the paper….
Have an immature pencil grasp for their age.
Have difficulty using scissors.
Have difficulty performing age appropriate self-care tasks independently.
Have difficulty mastering new fine motor tasks.
Not using both hands while doing an activity, such as; not stabilizing tower while adding another block, do not stabilize paper while writing etc.
Have difficulty performing precise manipulation tasks (i.e. doing up buttons, threading, or tying shoelaces).
Tire easily when engaged in fine motor tasks.
Dislike precise hand and eye coordination tasks (e.g. construction).
Tire quickly when typing or using a mouse on a computer.
Occupational therapy helps identify specific areas contributing to developmental delays. It includes hand muscle strengthening, activities to develop and refine various types of grasps, and structured support for mastering Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Moreover, children benefit from a nurturing and stimulating environment that encourages them to unlock their full potential. Therapists also provide practical strategies to support skill development in a healthy, engaging setting.
At ABC Diagnostic & Learning Center, we take pride in being the best occupational therapy center in Riyadh, offering expert care tailored to your child’s unique developmental needs
Pre-writing skills are foundational abilities that children develop before they begin formal writing. These skills typically emerge naturally through play and are essential for building strong handwriting abilities later on.
They include:
* In-hand manipulation
*Thumb opposition
*Pincer grasp
*Scissoring skills such as making snips on paper, cutting along straight lines, and shaping curves
* Scribbling with proper grasp on crayons or pens
*Coloring within boundaries
Additionally, children work on:
Drawing shapes such as “/, |, U, ~, V”
Imitating and copying shapes
Coloring small objects with accuracy
Understanding line boundaries in cursive writing
Using appropriate uppercase and lowercase letters
At ABC Diagnostic & Learning Center, we specialize in developing these essential pre-writing skills through fun, play-based, and structured activities. That’s why we are recognized as the best center in Riyadh for occupational therapy and handwriting readiness.
How can you detect your child has problems in pre writing skills .
If your child:
Doesn’t hold the pencil age appropriately
Scribbling is too light/spidery/dark
Cannot move an object within hand
Do not stabilize/hold paper while writing/cutting
Have difficulty using scissors.
Tires easily at writing task
Does well in retaining information verbally but not in writing
Avoids writing in class/home
Cannot make straight/steady lines with pencil
Cannot color small picture
Visual perception allows a child to process, identify, and make sense of what they see in their surroundings.
It plays a critical role in both academic success and everyday activities.
These skills include:
* Visual Discrimination – The ability to notice differences in form, color, position, and shape.
* Spatial Relationships – Recognizing an object in various orientations, such as in cases of reversal or rotation.
* Visual Memory – Remembering and identifying an object after briefly seeing it.
* Figure-Ground Perception – Picking out an object from a busy or cluttered background.
* Visual Closure – Understanding the whole object even when only parts of it are visible.
Mastering these abilities is essential for tasks like reading, writing, and math. Beyond school, visual perception helps with life skills such as navigating spaces, reading signs and maps, recognizing people, and enjoying hobbies like puzzles or crafts.
At ABC Diagnostic & Learning Center, we are proud to offer the best occupational therapy in Riyadh, using expert techniques to help children develop these critical skills in a fun and supportive environment.
How can you detect your child has problems in pre writing skills If your child:
Difficult for the child to plan actions in relation to objects around him/her
Results in inconsistent symbol reversals and transposing numbers or letters
losing place on a page
difficulty finding what is being looked for
ability to sequence letters or numbers in words or math problems,
remember the alphabet in sequence,
copy from one place to another (e.g., from board, from book, from one side of the paper to the other),
spell,
problems in dressing (i.e., matching shoes or socks),
correcting errors in school work,
distinguishing similarities and differences in the formation of letters (i.e., letter reversal) or objects,
matching two dimension to three dimension such as alphabet letters.
would make reading difficult as the child might not recognize familiar letters when presented in different styles of print (fonts, size, or color);
result in being slower to master the alphabet and numbers;
lead to difficulty recognizing errors;
complete dot-to-dot worksheets or puzzles,
identify mistakes in written material,
perform mathematics (including geometry),
solve puzzles.
may have difficulty attending to a word on a printed page due to his/her inability to block out other words around it,
difficulty filtering out visual distractions such as colorful bulletin boards or movement in the room in order to attend to the task at hand,
difficulty sorting and organizing personal belongings (may appear disorganized or careless in work)
Occupational therapy can help by improving ability in persistence to visual tasks. For the tasks of reading and writing, visual discrimination is critical for seeing letters or words as different, recognizing letters or words in different contexts. For example, a child must know that the word “the” is the same whether they see it written in a text book, on a marker board, or in a magazine article. A child has to remember what they read and recognize a word from one page to the next. Difficulties with this skill can also make copying from a board or book so much more challenging. Visual closure is important for reading and comprehending what we see quickly. That whole left/right concept plays a big part in this skill as well.
In fine motor terms, visual spatial relations are important for appropriate letter orientation and avoiding reversals. After all, “b” and “d” are essentially the same shape, just pointing in different directions. Difficulties with these skill can leave kids lost as they look for specific information on a busy worksheet. Occupational therapist uses strategies to help child identify and cope up with the challenges environment provides.
Assessments
TVPS-3 : test of visual perceptual skills-3
BEERY VMI:
Sensory profile
PDMS-2: Peabody developmental motor scales-2
BOTMP-2: bruininks-oseretsky test for motor proficiency
GMFM-88: gross motor function measure -88
Contacts
6530 Al Qamra Ar Rahmaniyah
Riyadh, KSA
+966.11.281.9075
+966.56.063.6848
info@abc-ksa.com
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