Cutting to perfection
Friday, December 16th, 2011
What is a proper scissors grasp?
There are several key elements to achieving a proper scissors grasp. First, the hand must be placed in a thumb-up position. The thumb goes in the “top loop” and the middle finger goes in the “bottom loop” and the scissors should rest on the index finger. The fourth and fifth fingers should be tucked into the palm to provide stability for the hand as it opens and closes.
What activities can be done to help a child maintain that frequently elusive thumbs-up position?
- Dropping and catching: With the elbow bent at a 90° angle palm-down, drop a small object, such as a ball or bean bag into the lower hand, which is cupped palm up. Alternate hands. Gradually increase the weight of the object once the skill has been mastered with a light object
- Scoop flour, sugar, beans, rice, etc.
- Melon baller
- Carry a ping pong ball or marble at arm’s length on a long-handled spoon. A first hold the handle close to the bowl of the spoon. Work your way to the end as skill increases.
- Carry a tray from the bottom to play house or restaurant. Position hands palms up, upper arms in contact with trunk, and elbows at a 90° angle
- Board games that require turning pieces over, e.g. Lucky Ducks, Squiggly Worms and Lotto
- Slinky: Shift the slinky back and forth between hands, palms up, elbows bent
- Bounce a ball on a racket (face up or face down)
- Throw a ball underhand
- Lock and key toys
How do you begin to teach children to cut with scissors?
Learning to grasp a pair of scissors correctly requires practice and a good pair of scissors. Children’s Fiskars are great starting scissors. Difficulty maintaining a thumbs-up position is an indication of poor elbow control. Here are some activities to help strengthen elbow control:
- First practice cutting on card stock, or plastic coffee stirrers because they are stiff, easier to cut, and require only one snip.
- Save all of those annoying subscription cards that fall out of magazines, and pre-cut them into ½” strips. Have your beginning scissors-user cut them into pieces. This is an easy and almost always gratifying activity. If you have an incomplete collection of paying cards, those work equally well.
- You can use the straw and card stock snippets to create a collage. Next, have your child cut fringes at the bottom of a piece of card stock. This should require only one snip per fringe.
- When the hands are working well together, draw some shorter and longer lines on the card stock with a thick black Sharpie or a highlighter and have your child practice stopping at the end of the line. This will begin to place demands on sequential opening and closing, and facilitate awareness of the line, and introduce control. Finally, ask him/her to cut longer strips lengthwise on cardstock progressing to widthwise on construction paper to practice opening and closing the scissors 4 or 5 times in a row.
See our next blog to learn about different kinds of scissors to boost your child’s cutting skills.
Aviva Goldwasser, OTR/L
Dr. Chaye Lamm Warburg, DPS, OTR/L
12/16/11
Toy review: Feed the animals game
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
These games are a great choice if you are in search of a game to boost the fine motor skills of your 3-5 year old child. You can purchase all 3 together, or choose the animal that is most appealing to your child. Each game comes with a pair of large tongs that will be used to “feed” treats to the animal. The pretend food treats are an appropriate size, making it challenging, but not exceedingly difficult to pick up. The larger mouths of the animals are conveniently designed to make it a “just right challenge” for young children to get the treats inside.
After having played the game, I have listed below a couple of pointers and adaptations to maximize the fine motor benefits accrued while playing:
Place a piece of colored tape around the tongs exactly where your child should hold them (approximately two-thirds of the way down the tongs) so that he/she automatically knows where to place his/her fingers.
Each game comes with 30 treats. By taking turns with your child, you will keep the small muscles of the hand from fatiguing quickly.
- Quality counts! If you notice that your child is struggling to hold the tongs, or is beginning to use the entire hand to grasp them, discontinue the game or alter the game play to pick up the treats using fingers only.
Aviva Goldwasser, OTR/L
Dr. Chaye Lamm Warburg, OTR/L
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 and is filed under POTS Favorite Toy Ideas, Seasonal Tips.
We highly recommend the Benbow scissors, invented by occupational therapist, Mary Benbow. They are uniquely designed with small finger loops, making them easier for small hands to control. The loops are coated in vinyl to prevent them from slipping off the fingers. Right-handed and left-handed scissors are both available. 
Mini Loop Scissors, also known as “squizzors” are a good choice for children who seem unsure about where to place their fingers and have difficulty maintaining a mature scissors grasp. The whole hand surrounds the handles, thumbs-up to squeeze as a unit, compared to traditional scissors that require more refined control of the small muscles of the hand. The scissors automatically re-opens upon release of the handle, and require less pressure than traditional scissors. Use squizzors to practice smoothly opening and closing the scissors and develop the eye-hand coordination necessary to cut on the line, without demanding refined control of individual fingers. 
The double loop on the Dual Controlled Training Scissors makes them ideal for a beginner who needs to get the idea of the cutting motion. They are designed to have an adult and child hold them together. The first set of loops is for the adult’s fingers and the back set are for the child. From the front, the adult generates the strength, coordination and control necessary to cut. From the back, the child senses the cutting motion, and can begin to develop the motor plan for cutting, without placing demands on grasp and fine motor control. 
