Connor's OT assessment is in...and I have to admit to not being nearly as well-read in this area! I also admit to not being as in-tune with this area of his development, and I'm working on getting over a bias/paradigm about the importance of fine motor as a whole...I'm much more focused on gross motor, speech, and social development to be honest! BUT...these results surprised me (how low they are) so I need to learn! Here's what his assessment said:
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Connor has full range of motion in his upper extremities. Formal assessment of muscle strength was not performed due to Connor’s age; however, through observations made during assessment (i.e. movement patterns, force exerted), he exhibits low muscle tone and low-average strength as compared to same-age peers.
Connor’s fine motor skills were evaluated using the PDMS-2. The fine motor portion of the evaluation is divided into 2 subsets, Grasping, which measures a child’s ability to use his hands, and Visual-Motor Integration, which measures visual perceptual skills. The results of these subtests are as follows:
SubtestRaw ScoreStd Score% RankAge =Rating
Grasping416915mosBelow Average
Visual-Motor10371629mosBelow Average
Connor’s Fine Motor Quotient (FMQ), which is a numeric representation of the overall performance on the subtests, was 79, which is a percentile rank of 8 and a rating of Poor.
Successful skills: Stringing 4 beads, imitating vertical and horizontal strokes, snipping with scissors, stacking 8-9 cubes to build a tower.
Challenging skills: Building train, bridge, and wall with blocks from a model, copying a circle, grasping marker or crayon with thumb and first finger toward paper or between thumb and index finger.
During the assessment, Connor was cooperative. He tended to move quickly through test items and often needed to be redirected to attend to task. He used his right hand to cut, color, draw, and stack cubes. When holding writing utensils, he used either a fisted grasp with thumb up and litter finger toward the paper, or a transdigital grasp with all fingers along the shaft of the crayon/marker. He was able to pick up small items with pad of index finger opposed to pad of thumb, but also pulled in his middle and ring fingers at times. He was also noted to use a raking grasp to pick up small pellets several times. When presented with scissors, he needed assistance to position his fingers and struggled to open and close them. When presented with loop scissors (self-opening scissors) he was able to snip the paper. When blocks were presented for copying block designs, he was able to stack the cubes but he was unable to copy and of the 3 block designs that were presented. The OT tried several times to help him understand what he needed to do and the sign language interpreter also tried to communicate this to him. His tendency was to continue to stack the blocks. When the train design was presented (4 cubes in a row with 1 on top at the front) he stacked 2 cubes in a row and then stacked 3 cubes on top. He imitated the OT by pushing the design as if it were a train, but did not fix the design to match the model.
Connor was compliant during the evaluation and demonstrated the ability to follow directions for familiar activities. As seen in the result of the PDMS-2, his fine motor skills are delayed relative to same-age peers at this time. These delays may impact his ability to perform preschool classroom fine motor activities independently.
Connor will benefit from continued exposure to age-appropriate fine motor and preschool classroom activities in order to facilitate fine motor development. Activities to improve core postural and upper extremity strength may also help to improve his overall fine motor development. Connor may benefit from the inclusion of a motor specialist to address areas of concern.
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His IEP now says 80 minutes a month (about 20 minutes a week) of Occupational Therapy. Does that sound reasonable?
He has been diagnosed with Apraxia, are these results common in Apraxia? I fully understand how Apraxia effects his speech, but I'm only now learning how it effects the rest of his body.
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Connor has full range of motion in his upper extremities. Formal assessment of muscle strength was not performed due to Connor’s age; however, through observations made during assessment (i.e. movement patterns, force exerted), he exhibits low muscle tone and low-average strength as compared to same-age peers.
Connor’s fine motor skills were evaluated using the PDMS-2. The fine motor portion of the evaluation is divided into 2 subsets, Grasping, which measures a child’s ability to use his hands, and Visual-Motor Integration, which measures visual perceptual skills. The results of these subtests are as follows:
SubtestRaw ScoreStd Score% RankAge =Rating
Grasping416915mosBelow Average
Visual-Motor10371629mosBelow Average
Connor’s Fine Motor Quotient (FMQ), which is a numeric representation of the overall performance on the subtests, was 79, which is a percentile rank of 8 and a rating of Poor.
Successful skills: Stringing 4 beads, imitating vertical and horizontal strokes, snipping with scissors, stacking 8-9 cubes to build a tower.
Challenging skills: Building train, bridge, and wall with blocks from a model, copying a circle, grasping marker or crayon with thumb and first finger toward paper or between thumb and index finger.
During the assessment, Connor was cooperative. He tended to move quickly through test items and often needed to be redirected to attend to task. He used his right hand to cut, color, draw, and stack cubes. When holding writing utensils, he used either a fisted grasp with thumb up and litter finger toward the paper, or a transdigital grasp with all fingers along the shaft of the crayon/marker. He was able to pick up small items with pad of index finger opposed to pad of thumb, but also pulled in his middle and ring fingers at times. He was also noted to use a raking grasp to pick up small pellets several times. When presented with scissors, he needed assistance to position his fingers and struggled to open and close them. When presented with loop scissors (self-opening scissors) he was able to snip the paper. When blocks were presented for copying block designs, he was able to stack the cubes but he was unable to copy and of the 3 block designs that were presented. The OT tried several times to help him understand what he needed to do and the sign language interpreter also tried to communicate this to him. His tendency was to continue to stack the blocks. When the train design was presented (4 cubes in a row with 1 on top at the front) he stacked 2 cubes in a row and then stacked 3 cubes on top. He imitated the OT by pushing the design as if it were a train, but did not fix the design to match the model.
Connor was compliant during the evaluation and demonstrated the ability to follow directions for familiar activities. As seen in the result of the PDMS-2, his fine motor skills are delayed relative to same-age peers at this time. These delays may impact his ability to perform preschool classroom fine motor activities independently.
Connor will benefit from continued exposure to age-appropriate fine motor and preschool classroom activities in order to facilitate fine motor development. Activities to improve core postural and upper extremity strength may also help to improve his overall fine motor development. Connor may benefit from the inclusion of a motor specialist to address areas of concern.
**********************************
His IEP now says 80 minutes a month (about 20 minutes a week) of Occupational Therapy. Does that sound reasonable?
He has been diagnosed with Apraxia, are these results common in Apraxia? I fully understand how Apraxia effects his speech, but I'm only now learning how it effects the rest of his body.
