Movement and Pre-writing Skills

By Sue Heron Paediatric Physiotherapist and Head of Training at Tatty Bumpkin Ltd.

This week I have been inspired by two things. 

• Firstly, a Blog on pre-writing skills by ‘Liz’. Liz is an Australian Early Years Teacher who is interested in current research. Her March Blog has a great infographic ‘On the importance of developing pre-writing skills in early childhood’ see - http://www.lizs-early-learning-spot.com/pre-writing-skills-essential-for-early-learners

• Secondly, the lovely pictures sent into Tatty Bumpkin HQ by the children attending: N16 Tots, Stoke Newington; Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary school, Towester and Broomgrove Infants School, Wivenhoe - at the end of their Tatty Bumpkin classes. (See below) 

In her Blog Liz lists essential ‘building blocks’ needed for writing. Working as a paediatric physiotherapist with children who had delayed gross and fine motor skills the areas she identifies are all areas we focus on to support children with their handwriting skills.
It is not enough to practice ‘handwriting’ – often it is far more helpful for the child to revisit activities they did at a younger age - to fill in the gaps.  

Now whilst working at Tatty Bumpkin, I'm becoming increasingly aware that most children would benefit from activities which support these building blocks to avoid handwriting becoming a frustration. I shall concentrate on just two for now! 

1. Good Postural Control 
Interestingly of all the postures we use: lying, sitting and standing – sitting is the most complex! Think about the shape of your body when you sit – all the bending and straightening at the ankles, knees, hips, back and neck compared with your body position whilst you are lying or standing. 

To write easily children need to be able to sit well and ‘automatically. This allows their brain to focus on how and what they are writing rather than how they are sitting. To have good postural control in sitting children need to have refined their balance skills and have a good awareness of how their body parts relate to each other. Sitting balance and body awareness are largely developed as children move not whilst they sit. Movement then is not just for health and as a ‘way to let off steam’ - it is vital for sitting skills.


2. Shoulder Muscle Activity and Strength 
The old adage ‘the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone’ comes to mind. So our hand is connected to our arm and then our shoulder. It makes sense for our large shoulder muscles to be the ones which support the weight of our arms as we write. This means the ‘load is taken off’ the delicate hand muscles – allowing them to do the indicate movements. Maybe it is part of modern life, we don’t take much weight though our arms these days, but I have often noticed how weak and inactive some children’s shoulder muscles are. We need to include shoulder activating and strengthening movements into our children’s nursery or school day as pre-writing activities! 

So perhaps I should not have been surprised when our Franchisees sent me the lovely pictures their classes had created.
On their Tatty Bumpkin adventure the children moved in many different ways; wriggling on their tummies as worms, crawling as cats, jumping as frogs. As they did these movements the children would have refined their balance and postural control. 

Having fun and refining postural control skills in a Tatty Bumpkin class!

The Yoga activity of the week was horse - http://tattybumpkinltd.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/help-your-child-to-regain-focus-tatty.html

Horse Pose Tatty Bumpkin style!

This activity is a great way for children to strengthen and activate their shoulder muscles. 

So well done to all the children at N16 Tots, Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary school and Broomgrove Infants School you have great pre-writing skills! 

Tatty Bumpkin Classes 

Find out about your local Tatty Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html. Or, ask your child’s nursery if they are doing Tatty Bumpkin Yoga activity sessions as part of their day. 

Our qualified Tatty Bumpkin Teachers are fully trained in aspects of child development and Yoga and are kept fully up-to-date by our professional team of paediatric physiotherapists, Yoga teachers and musicians. All the Tatty Bumpkin stores are aligned to the Early Years Foundation Stage this means the sessions not only enhance your child’s physical skills they also develop their communication, social and thinking skills.

Or find out how you could be trained to deliver Baby and Tatty Bumpkin classes in your area at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/business/index.html. 

Love Tatty Bumpkin and Sue!