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Improve Your Spelling, the latest book written by Nessy founder Mike Jones, explains the rules of reading and spelling. It will help teachers teach, and parents to understand how to help their children.

By the end, you'll be a master speller!

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You've found Nessy; World leader in helping children who learn differently. Founded and run by educators and dyslexia specialists, our award-winning programs are guided by the Science of Reading.

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The British Dyslexia Association is the voice for the 10% of the population that are dyslexic

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This toolkit helps parents and families take part in literacy experiences at home to develop children's reading and language skills.

You will learn:

This toolkit includes:

Supporting Materials

Download and print these infographics with ideas linked to the tutorial to help your child develop as a reader.

Resources for Preschool

Parents and caregivers play an important role in supporting children's literacy development, especially when children are having difficulty. Explore these ideas and resources from the tutorial to learn how.

Big Ideas

Talking with your child helps your child to learn about letters and letter sounds, learn new words and ideas, practice hearing and saying words, and practice talking back and forth.

Helping your child with speech sounds and letters helps your child hear how language works, learn that letters relate to spoken sounds, link letters to their sounds, and read words later.

Talking about books with your child helps your child see that pictures stand for real things, learn that print tells a story, find new ways to say things, and learn new words.

Reading with your child helps your child learn new sounds, words, and ideas, link letters to their sounds, and learn how books work.

Asking questions when talking about or reading books helps your child think in new ways, consider new words and ideas, explain her thinking; and make sense of letters, sounds, and words.

Visit these Resources to Learn More

Resources for Elementary

Parents and caregivers play an important role in supporting children's literacy development, especially when children are having difficulty. Explore these ideas and resources from the tutorial to learn how.

Big Ideas

Reading with your child helps your child learn new words and ideas, understand the purposes for reading, hear what reading sounds like, develop thinking and problem-solving skills, and enjoy reading and learning.

Ask questions that are about ideas or words from the book, can be answered with more than one or two words, and need information from the story to answer.

Learning how speech can be broken into parts lays the foundation for breaking smaller sound parts in speech.

Correctly linking sounds to letters to sound out words helps your child read new words, recognize familiar words, and understand what is being read.

Fluency is the ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories correctly, with enough speed and expression. Reading aloud frequently helps your child develop reading fluency.

Visit these Resources to Learn More

Resources for Adolescents

Parents and caregivers play an important role in supporting children's literacy development, especially when children are having difficulty. Explore these ideas and resources from the tutorial to learn how.

Big Ideas

Reading with your child helps your child build background knowledge of topics, discuss ideas and issues, see a model of what good reading sounds like and learn words and how language works.

When engaging in conversations with your child, talk about school, friends, or current events. Ask questions about what your child is reading, listen to his answers, and discuss information read together.

A literacy-rich environment is a place that encourages reading and writing, such as listening to stories, reading together, and talking about ideas. To offer a literacy-rich environment, you can have a variety of reading material at home.

You can model reading and writing behaviors by reading and writing yourself and reading and writing together. Show your child how reading and writing is related to other activities.

You can be a media mentor for your child by showing and telling what you are doing online and why. Help your child to be an educated consumer of information on the internet.

You can motivate your child to read by following your child's lead. Talk with her about her lack of interest in reading, listen and acknowledge your child's reasons, talk about how reading can be enjoyable, and continue to provide an environment that encourages your child to read.

Visit these Resources to Learn More

Facilitator's Guide

Family Connection of South Carolina Testimonial

Explore More Toolkits

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Supporting Your Child's Literacy Development

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This toolkit helps parents and families take part in literacy experiences at home to develop children's reading and language skills.

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Supporting your child with reading
Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A sharing book. Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.
Reading practice book
This book has been carefully matched to your child's current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don't worry that it's too easy - your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise - celebrate their success! If they can't read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.
Sharing book
In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn't expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

Back to top

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The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel...

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Learning to Read for Kids | Learn to Read with Phonics | Free Trial

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Reading Eggs is the online reading program that helps children learn to read. Hundreds of online reading lessons, phonics games and books for ages 2–13. Start your free trial!

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Hampshire Flashcards for CEW by pattern and colour

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Maths games for all ages to help you practise all those important mathematics skills including counting, adding, subtraction, times tables, measuring, shapes, fractions and decimals and much more.

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Donate

Please give today and help Autism Hampshire to be there for people on the autism spectrum, and their loved ones, when they most need us

Join us

Working for Autism Hampshire can be both rewarding and challenging. Do you have what it takes? If think that you do, it would be great to hear from you

Contact

Our friendly staff team are ready to help you. Get in touch and we will do our best to answer your questions and help you find the information that you need

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Please give today and help Autism Hampshire to be there for people on the autism spectrum, and their loved ones, when they most need us Working for Autism Hampshire can be both rewarding and challenging. Do you have what it takes?

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We are the UKs leading charity for autistic people and their families. Since 1962, we have been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.

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We believe that books are a great way to raise awareness and improve understanding of different experiences. This booklist aims to provide a range of children's and teens' books that feature characters who are on the autistic spectrum or have Asperger's Syndrome.

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Create, print, share and translate symbol materials online

Create simple cloud-based symbol materials

Sign up now and join 1000s of teachers, parents and professionals around the world who use Widgit Online to support learning and communication.

Cloud Based Flexibility

Create and open your symbol materials from any PC, Mac or iPad with an internet connection.
No installation needed.

Support EAL and MFL with 80 different language translations

Our Dual Language Feature Pack is already included in Standard, Plus and Pro plans, or can be added at additional cost to Home and Basic plans.

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Create, print, share and translate symbol materials online Sign up now and join 1000s of teachers, parents and professionals around the world who use Widgit Online to support learning and communication. Cloud Based Flexibility Create and open your symbol materials from any PC, Mac or iPad with an internet connection.

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Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives

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Speech and Language UK: Information and support

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Speech and Language UK: Help for parents and families

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Parents often tell us that their child started stammering around the time their language skills were developing. This is typically between the ages of two and five years, although stammering can start later.
Stammering usually starts in childhood, often between the ages of 2 - 5 years coinciding with the rapid development of new physical and mental skills. In particular, the child is learning many new words, beginning to use longer sentences, expressing new ideas and asking lots of questions.

Stammering is different from other early speech and language problems because it can start at different stages in a child's life.

For some it starts gradually - it comes and goes and seems to be a part of a child's natural attempts to use more and more words. While for other children it can begin quite suddenly, sometimes almost overnight, and sometimes quite severely.

This can be very worrying indeed, for both the child and for their family. And, in some cases, it can disappear just as quickly, within days or months.

If you are concerned, it is best to seek advice early. Don't be put off by the "don't worry" school of thought. We all know that telling ourselves not to worry is usually unhelpful. Practical help is what is needed, which is what we are trying to offer here.
Parents often tell us that their child started stammering around the time their language skills were developing. This is typically between the ages of two and five years, although stammering can start later.
Stammering usually starts in childhood, often between the ages of 2 - 5 years coinciding with the rapid development of new physical and mental skills. In particular, the child is learning many new words, beginning to use longer sentences, expressing new ideas and asking lots of questions.

Stammering is different from other early speech and language problems because it can start at different stages in a child's life.

For some it starts gradually - it comes and goes and seems to be a part of a child's natural attempts to use more and more words. While for other children it can begin quite suddenly, sometimes almost overnight, and sometimes quite severely.

This can be very worrying indeed, for both the child and for their family. And, in some cases, it can disappear just as quickly, within days or months.

If you are concerned, it is best to seek advice early. Don't be put off by the "don't worry" school of thought. We all know that telling ourselves not to worry is usually unhelpful. Practical help is what is needed, which is what we are trying to offer here.

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Support for Parents - Action For Stammering Children

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Parents often tell us that their child started stammering around the time their language skills were developing. This is typically between the ages of two and five years, although stammering can start later. Stammering usually starts in childhood, often between the ages of 2 - 5 years coinciding with the rapid development of new physical and mental skills.

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Skip to the content

Community and mental health services for Southampton, Portsmouth and parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Related links

Referral method

Before making a referral to our service you may be required to have tried local support resources/interventions before the referral will be accepted.

We have an integrated referral form offering the choice of service you require. You can refer to more than one service if needed, in which case a fully integrated assessment will take place.
You can download our integrated referral form here
Referral forms must be completed in full with a parent / guardian signature.

Please return the completed form via post or email.

Our Children's Therapy Service has an open referral system, which means we accept referrals from anyone including:

Parents / Carers

paediatricians

GPs

health visitors or other health care professionals, including audiologists

pre-school or school staff.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

Please visit our services page for specific services and contact details. Alternatively, contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service by emailing or calling the number below. You can also give us feedback, make a complaint or share a compliment.
pals@solent.nhs.uk
0800 013 2319

*Lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed on 30 November 2000. It gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, with full access granted in January 2005.

The Act sets out exemptions to that right and places certain obligations on public authorities.

Email: FreedomOfInformation@solent.nhs.uk

Phone: 023 8029 6911/22

*Subject to any exemptions which apply, we are obliged to provide the information requested please note that requests for Personal Information is not covered under this Act and should be applied for through the Data Protection Act 1998.

Our administrative and managerial centre is based in Southampton.

While our services can be found around various NHS locations in Southampton and Portsmouth (and surrounding districts), our administrative and managerial centre is based in Southampton at:

If you require a printable version of how to find us including bus times, car access and bike info please download our leaflet. (Copyright of Highpoint Venue).

Central office phone: 0300 123 3390

*Lines open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

If you are a journalist with a media enquiry, please contact the Communications Team at:
communications@solent.nhs.uk
0300 123 4156 or 02381 031076

The Communications Office is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

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Skip to the content Community and mental health services for Southampton, Portsmouth and parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Related links Before making a referral to our service you may be required to have tried local support resources/interventions before the referral will be accepted.

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We would like to announce that The Makaton Charity has successfully acquired the intellectual property rights of Special iApps, a renowned creator of award-winning educational apps. These apps are specially designed to provide support to children with special educational needs, fostering language and communication development.

With Special iApps, users can effortlessly create personalised learning resources in minutes, making it easier for children to access the educational tools they need.

We are excited to continue the legacy of Special iApps and further enhance the impact these remarkable apps have on individual's learning journeys.

Next steps

Our goal is to enhance and modernise the existing Special iApps functionality through updated technology and advancements. We are aiming to relaunch the apps by Summer 2024.

We are delighted to announce that as part of their membership package, all Makaton Members will have exclusive access to the apps. This means that Makaton Members will be able to benefit from the incredible features and educational resources offered by Special iApps, further enriching their membership experience.

Previous Special iApps customers

The apps will also be made available free of charge to previous Special iApps customers for a period of six months. During this time, we encourage users to provide feedback on the development and usability of the apps. This valuable input will help us further improve and refine the apps.

Sharing your data

If you were a previous Special iApps customer and you would rather not have your personal data stored with The Makaton Charity, please email vicki.partridge@makaton.org and we'll ensure it is removed from our database.

More information regarding these exciting developments will be released later in the year. Makaton has worked closely with the Founders of Special iApps and is committed to continuing and expanding upon the remarkable work they have accomplished.

Stay tuned for more updates on how we will be taking this important work forward!

The Makaton Charity

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Makaton is a unique language programme that uses symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate. It supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention and listening, comprehension, memory, recall and organisation

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Something Special - Really useful Makaton signs

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Have a go at our collection of really useful Makaton signs.

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If you have a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) this means that you can struggle with paying attention, have high levels of energy and react quickly to things. This can get in the way of everyday life such as school, hobbies and making friends, although how much it affects someone can vary from person to person.

Tasks such as sitting still, concentrating and following instructions are much harder for people with ADHD as they often feel restless or fidgety, can be easily distracted and can talk a lot, which makes activities such as school lessons and doing homework even more difficult.

People with ADHD can sometimes find it harder in social situations such as making friends or playing games as they can find it hard to follow conversations, wait for things and take turns. Sometimes people with ADHD also have difficulties with getting to and staying asleep.

ADHD is a result of the brain being wired slightly differently to people who do not have ADHD. Although there is no cure for ADHD, the difficulties experienced, such as high energy levels, difficulties concentrating and reacting quickly, can be helped and managed in many ways including receiving extra support in school, learning techniques and strategies to help you cope and sometimes taking medication.

The most important thing to know is that having ADHD is not your fault and is not a bad thing. People who have ADHD are just as talented as those without ADHD. In fact it is reported that some of the world's most successful people have diagnoses of ADHD including; Justin Timberlake (singer), Jamie Oliver (chef), Will Smith (actor), Michael Phelps (Olympic swimmer), Emma Watson (actress) and Richard Branson (entrepreneur and owner of the Virgin brand) to name just a few!

There are lots of strategies and techniques that you, your parents, carers and teachers can use to help you cope and manage with the things you find difficult. So it is important to make sure that those involved in teaching or supporting you are aware that you have ADHD. You can find suggestions of techniques and strategies that might help on the website link below and using the free organisation and planning apps listed below.

As remembering, being organised and planning your day can be one of the hardest things to do and this often makes school difficult, it is a good idea to make notes or reminders and set alarms on your phone of important things that you need to remember. Try to be organised and plan ahead what you will need for each day. It may be helpful to let others help you with doing this. Having a familiar routine will also make it easier for you to remember what you have to do and what you might need with you.

If you have been given a diagnosis and have been prescribed medication to help you there is a really useful website called HeadMeds which can give you lots of information and advice.

What is ADHD - credit Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

What is Wrong With Me? An ADHD Story- credit Jenna Boyd

Let Me Be Your Camera - Understanding ADHD - credit ADHDPerkins

What is ADHD - credit Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

What is Wrong With Me? An ADHD Story- credit Jenna Boyd

Let Me Be Your Camera - Understanding ADHD - credit ADHDPerkins

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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If you have a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) this means that you can struggle with paying attention, have high levels of energy and react quickly to things. This can get in the way of everyday life such as school, hobbies and making friends, although how much it affects someone can vary from person to person.

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WWE Resources The Importance of Attunement 2017-05-14_(HF000014059316)

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Welcome to Beacon House

Beacon House is a specialist, innovative and creative therapeutic service for young people, families and adults. With a special interest in working with individuals of all ages who have experienced trauma and loss, we are passionate about offering safe and effective therapies in a way that enables people to re-build their lives following stress and adversity. We also take pride in supporting individuals and teams to develop their trauma informed practice through training, supervision and consultation.

Our Cuckfield Clinic periodically closes to new child and adult referrals to prevent long waiting times. Please do get in touch with us to find out if we have spaces currently.

We have some specific capacity for child and family referrals at our Chichester Clinic. Please do get in touch with us to find out if we are able to allocate your referral at this time.

Find out more about us

Our Services

How can Beacon House help you?

Educational Psychology

Get In Touch

Get in touch today to find out more.

We have clinics in Cuckfield and in Chichester.

Please note: We are not able to accept any walk-ins. All meetings are by appointment only. Office hours are: Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

To ask any questions, please contact us on admin@beaconhouse.org.uk

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Beacon House | Chartered Clinical Psychologist Trauma Specialist

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Trick Box - Personal Development Programmes

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Evidence-based, inclusive and developing mental wellbeing in line with DFE guidelines, Trick Box programmes develop positive life habits to help deal with challenges in the here and now as well as building a repertoire of personal skills for the future, helping individuals to thrive.

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Pretty much everyone that works in early childhood education, and also many parents, are aware of the main difference between fine and gross motor skills; but did you realise there are many more differences between the two than meet the eye?

Understanding these differences will help you appreciate many things, including the ways boys and girls develop, the types of learning opportunities you can have that develop both, and also the way you can cater for fine and gross motor skills in your indoor and outdoor environments.

I will start with the basics and expand from there.

So, to start with, what is the main difference between fine and gross motor skills?
Fine motor skills are small movements, usually in the hands and fingers. Gross motor skills are larger movements, involving parts of the body such as legs, arms, the torso and feet.
That's the simple version, but there are many fundamental differences between the two. I have listed what I believe to be the top 12 of these, with a few top tips on how this knowledge will help you thrown in as well.

1. Boys V Girls

There is a fascinating discrepancy between the rates at which boys and girls typically develop in the two areas.

In general, boys often tend to develop gross motor skills at a quicker rate than girls. (Source) However, girls will usually develop fine motor skills before boys of the same age.

The progression that we all go through is starting with gross motor, and progressing into developing fine motor skills (though of course we all will be using gross motor for the rest of our lives). It suggests then that boys spend much longer transitioning from gross motor to effective fine motor.

Whilst gross motor skills are clearly important, the big stumbling block in early education has traditionally been in the fine motor skills. Because of the large emphasis placed on early writing, girls have always had an advantage.

This time lag is something to understand and appreciate. Nature has dictated that many boys will need a much longer time to develop in this area. There are huge benefits in allowing all children the right amount of time and support to develop fine motor skills at their pace.

Top tip - some boys need longer to develop their fine motor skills, and it is more of a spectrum - they will need a lot of exposure to really simple fine motor work until they are ready to try out more difficult activities.

2. Parts Of Body Used

There are some clear differences between the body parts used for either gross or fine motor, but there are some less obvious ones as well.

Whilst we all understand that fine motor activities often use the fingers, did you know that some of the following areas are also used...

Did you realize that using the small muscles of our lips is a fine motor skill? When we pucker our mouths, or make facial expression, these are fine motor movements we are making.

Tongue - Small movements for eating and speaking are also a fine motor movement.

Toes - We can pick things up with them also
Gross Motor
Gross motor skills use different body parts including:

Legs - For running, jumping, hopping, swimming etc

Arms - For balancing, running, throwing, pushing, pulling

Core - Used for the vast majority of movements - swimming, walking, running, throwing, pushing etc

Feet - Used for jumping, hopping, kicking, walking, running, skipping (and many more)

3. Objects V No Objects

Whereas fine motor is predominantly involved with movements centred around objects, this is not the case with gross motor.

Gross motor skills are divided into two categories - locomotor and object control skills. Without getting too technical, locomotor movements require no objects, and object control skills quite clearly do.
Examples Of Locomotor Gross Motor Skills
The majority of common gross motor skills are locomotor. These include:

* Running

* Skipping

* Walking

* Jumping

* Hopping

* Crawling

* Swimming

These are just a few of the many examples you could think of.

However, there are probably less object control skills:
Gross Motor Object Control Skills
These include:

* Building

* Climbing

* Throwing

* Catching ( such as in these 30 fantastic ball games)

* Pulling

* Pushing
Fine Motor Skills
On the other hand, the vast majority of fine motor skills are linked to objects and are not locomotor. This is the opposite to gross motor.

Some examples of fine motor skills that require objects include the old favorites such as:

* Threading

* Weaving

* Mark-Making

* Cutting

* Picking up small objects

* Posting

4. Amount Of Space

Fine motor and gross motor activities will look very unlike each other, and they will require different physical environments to take place successfully.

Probably the biggest issue is space. For gross motor think big, and for fine motor it could be any size (small to large).

Gross motor can involve:

* Lots of rapid movement

* Exploring big resources

* Exploring and moving over a wide area

* Exploring the ways in which our bodies move in different ways

On the other hand fine motor is more about:

* Small-scale movements

* Exploring small resources

* Moving in a confined or small area

The perfect space for gross motor would be large, and it would also be safe. It could also have equipment in it that supported gross motor, such as climbing equipment.

Fine motor, by contrast could be done pretty much anywhere, but it is probably good if it takes place in a smaller more isolated area. Anywhere that offers not that many distractions and the opportunity to focus is good.

As one concrete example, fine motor play with geoboards is best done in a quieter space with less distractions.

5. Small V Big Mark-Making

I thought this deserved a category of its own, as it is so central to both gross and fine motor - mark-making.

Different types of mark-making opportunity will support and develop either fine or gross motor.

For gross motor, you want to think about big movements of the arms, shoulder and core. For fine motor, smaller scale mark-making will be working the fingers, hands and wrist.

Some great gross motor mark-making opportunities include

* Skywriting in the air with ribbons or streamers

* Painting fences with water from buckets

* Large mark-making on sheds, tables, and chalkboards

* Big mark-making on the ground

* Writing on wallpaper

Excellent fine motor mark-making includes:

* Making cards

* Drawing pictures on paper

* Writing words, captions and sentences

* Mark-making on envelopes and letters

* Writing in diaries and notebooks

6.Size Of Resources

Different size resources will really help in catering for both fine and gross motor development. Often you can have a mixture of the two sizes of resource in one learning area.

For example:
Large V Small Construction
Large construction for gross motor includes:
Planks, crates, gutters, tubes, pallets
(For lots of exaxmples of this kind of big-scale outdoor construction check this article out).

Smaller construction, which is ideal for fine motor includes:
Lego, duplo, building blocks, connecting links, 3d shapes, megablocks Small V Large Sand
You can use many large pieces of equipment for sand play, including:
Gutters, ramps, buckets, spades
These can be combined with a range of smaller items for fine motor development:
Shells, pebbles, small sieves, pourers, small scoops Small V Large Water
Same applies to water play. Gross motor:
Buckets, gutters, pipes, pouring jugs
Fine motor:
Fishing rods, small scoops and pourers, small cones and measuring cylinders Other Examples
There are many other sets of opposites in similar learning areas. For example:

Small-scale malleable play with playdough and small tools and loose parts, and large-scale messy play.

Ball games, and small dice or board games.

7. Risks Of Each

Most activities that children do will come with some level of risk, and it is always a good idea to know what these issues are before you try anything out.

The main risks of fine and gross motor are actually very different.

So what are the main risks of fine motor activities?

This is undoubtedly choking. Because you are using small items of one sort or another, there is always the risk that children may put them in the mouth.

To try to minimize this risk, here are a few pointers:

Risk assess the level of supervision that will be required for an activity

Risk assess if you have any children that are more likely to eat or swallow things, for example children with autism

Use age appropriate equipment - for example, use pompoms designed for children the right age.

For more about the risks involved in loose parts play, take a look at this article.

Now on to the risks of gross motor skills. The risks are completely different, with probably the main ones being:

A child falling off something they are climbing up

They fall over when running, jumping etc

Being hit by something during a game, e.g. a ball, a building block that falls etc

They hurt themselves trying to lift or push or pull

Again, risk assessment is key. Offer the level of supervision that is necessary.

8.Indoor V Outdoor

The environment that gross and fine motor skills take place in will often be different.

As a generalization, gross motor skills are ideal for outdoor learning. This is because they require lots of space and the ability to use big equipment. This would often not be safe to use indoors.

Fine motor skills are more versatile. They could happen both outdoors or indoors quite easily, but they are probably in general better suited for indoors learning.

This is because the equipment will be smaller, and also because it is good if they happen in a part of the space that is free from distractions, and where children can attempt to reach a state of 'flow'. This is basically the same as the sports concept of 'getting in the zone.'

Of course, fine motor can exist outside, and gross motor indoors.

Gross motor skills are used almost entirely throughout our lives. They are an ever-present - children are walking, bending, moving most of the time. However, to find their fullest expression, doing them outside really helps.

9.Develop At Different Rates

It seems very clear that children's gross and fine motor levels of skills progress at different rates.

In simple terms, they can often get to a level of proficiency quite quickly with gross motor, in that they are able to run, walk and do the major movements at quite a young age.

Although they begin to learn fine motor from a very early age, they normally reach a good level of skill in this area much later, often at 6 or 7 years of age.

Some people think that children develop gross motor skills first, and then move onto fine motor. However, this is not really how it works.

Both are developing at the same time. Certainly from 3 months, children will be developing both fine and gross motor skills.

Certainly the two do have an impact on each other, but fine motor skills generally will lag behind gross motor ones, often by several years.

10.Size Of Movements

This one is obvious, but it has lots of issues.

Of course gross motor is all about large movements, and fine motor is all about small movements.

Some ways to support large movements are:

1. Provide an outdoor learning environment that has enough space to move around

2. Have lots of big equipment

3. Provide opportunities for digging and sweeping

4. Model ball games

5. Have equipment like ropes, hoops, spots

Fine motor requires smaller movements which are supported by:

1. Encouraging children to dress independently, zip coats, put on shoes etc

2. Encourage independent eating

3. Tap into interests to provide stimulating fine motor activities

4. Have a range of small equipment in most learning areas

11. Speech Issues V Gross Motor

This is another major difference in the sexes.

It is a surprising fact that almost 70 per cent of children that have speech and language issues are boys. For example, in the UK 1.5 million children have speech and language issues, and 1 million of them are boys. (Source)

Fine motor is hugely important in speech, as tiny movements of the tongue and lips produce the speech sounds.

On the other hand, there is some evidence that there is a slightly higher proportion of girls that suffer from delayed gross motor skills (though often this has less implications for immediate quality of life).

12.Types Of Play That Support Them

The types of play that support fine and gross motor often look different.

Gross Motor is particularly developed by:

1. Opportunities to run, jump, climb

2. Balls, hoops, ropes, skittles

3. Bikes, scooters, large toy cars

4. Construction materials, tyres, crates, wooden blocks

Fine motor is developed by:

1. Weaving and threading

2. Using tools to manipulate materials like dough (take a look at these 15 fantastic playdough maths ideas)

3. Using a range of small objects

4. Using chopsticks, tweezers or tongs

Often the best learning experiences will contain both fine and gross motor skills, but this can sometimes take a bit of adult intervention to support.

Often adding fine motor to gross motor activities takes a bit of imagination, or the other way round.

Some things to think about include:

If children are engaging in large-scale construction outside, can they draw diagrams of what they have done?

Are areas like sand and water providing both large equipment and small?

Conclusion

Gross motor and fine motor skills are strongly connected, but they are also two quite distinct things. They need different planning, resources, space and mindset.

READ MORE
Child hates writing? Here's what to do 20 benefits of playdough (with many real life examples)
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12 Differences Between Fine And Gross Motor Skills | Early Impact Learning

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Pretty much everyone that works in early childhood education, and also many parents, are aware of the main difference between fine and gross motor skills; but did you realise there are many more differences between the two than meet the eye?

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Looking for some simple ideas for fine motor activities for your little ones?

While you can find many interesting, creative or theme-based activity ideas online, this is a list of the most basic and essential types of fine motor skills activities.

They are the kinds of activities that all kids should be doing in early childhood in order to improve their fine motor skills.

What is An Example of a Fine Motor Activity?

Any activity that engages the small muscles of the body - such as the fingers and eyes - is a fine motor activity.

An example is drawing a picture or pushing pegs through a pegboard.

What are Some Fine Motor Skills Examples?

These are a few examples of tasks and actions that require the use of fine motor skills:

Closing a jacket zipper

Brushing teeth

Folding a piece of paper

Decorating a cupcake

Why are Fine Motor Skills Important?

Children need to develop their fine motor skills in order to accomplish all kinds of self-care tasks, play and participate in activities and learn to write, among other things.

As they grow and develop, they progress through the fine motor milestones - such as learning to feed themselves, dress or build a 24-piece puzzle.

It is vital to their independence and their ability to cope academically during their years of schooling.

17 of the Best Fine Motor Activities for Kids

Here are 17 simple fine motor activities for preschoolers and toddlers.

Many of the same activities can be done with toddlers, 3, 4 and 5-year-olds. Just change the expectation to suit your child's age and maturity.

For example, a 2-year-old may only scribble with a crayon, whereas a 5-year-old will start experimenting with writing their name; a 3-year-old may love pasting buttons with liquid glue onto paper, an older child can categorize the buttons by size.

Although kids should have access to some fine motor skills toys, many activities can be done with waste materials or everyday items in your home or classroom.

1. Playdough

Playdough has so many benefits your kids should be playing with it often. It's wonderful for fine motor control.

Provide a sensory, fine motor experience by using different materials and tools - cookie cutters, plastic knives, twigs, a rolling pin, etc.

You can also press items like beads or buttons into the playdough.

Here's a recipe for easy DIY playdough.

There are variations of this substance that are also suitable, such as clay, plasticine, etc.

2. Drawing

Drawing is one of the most important fine motor activities and one that kids should have the opportunity to do daily.

Drawing is the most important pre-writing activity. As kids progress through the stages of drawing, they eventually start developing the control to form letters and write.

Offer lots of different types of paper and writing tools - pencils, pens, oil pastels, markers, chalk, etc.

3. Painting

Painting is another activity that has so many variations and should be done often.

It can be easy to avoid because of the mess factor but the benefits of painting far outweigh the hassle of washing up.

Painting activities don't need to be complicated and kids should be allowed to paint freely without much guidance.

Here are a few types of painting activities to try:

Finger painting

Painting with brushes of different thicknesses

Stamp painting - with wooden stamps, potato shapes, orange halves, etc.

Sponge painting

Spray painting

Painting with balls

Roller painting

Splatter painting

Mud painting

Feather painting

Bubble painting

Leaf printing

...and there are lots more!

4. Finger Plays

Teach your kids some fun finger rhymes like Tommy Thumb and Two Little Dickie Birds.

These are great for exercising little fingers and getting them to control and coordinate them.

Fingerplays also improve language, concentration and listening skills.

Here are some fun fingerplays for children.
This post contains affiliate links for educational products that I personally recommend. If you purchase through one of them, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the terms and conditions for more details.
5. Threading

Threading takes a lot of coordination and concentration and can take time to master. It is excellent for building eye-hand coordination and developing the pincer grasp.

There are many ways to teach kids to thread:

Give toddlers chunky wooden threading shapes and string

Make a macaroni necklace

Make a necklace or bracelet with cereals or sweets (shaped like loops)

Thread beads onto a string (here's a great bead set)

The older children get, the better control they will have threading beads of smaller sizes onto a string.

6. Lacing

Similar to threading, lacing is the action of moving a string/thread in and out of holes - like when lacing up shoes.

Apart from practising tying shoelaces - which is quite an advanced skill - offer activities like lacing cards ( this is a great set) or lacing around a paper plate or shape cut-out.

7. Paper Tearing

Did you know that tearing paper is a skill children should learn?

Like any other skill, it needs practice to be mastered.

Give children different kinds of papers to tear. Add some glue and they can create a collage out of it.

While you're at it - teach kids to crumple paper as well. This will strengthen the hand muscles.

Crumple papers and aim and throw them into a laundry basket to make a game out of it.

8. Paper Folding

When I taught in the grades, I was forever moaning at the kids for turning their worksheets into paper planes and flying them around the class during the lesson!

Paper folding is a fine motor skill kids need to develop before starting formal school and this is a great way to teach it.

See if kids can come up with some of their own ways of folding the plane before you're tempted to explain step-by-step.

If the plane is not well folded it will not fly well and this becomes a great opportunity for some problem-solving practice.

Try folding hats and boats too.

9. Puzzles

Puzzles are my favourite fine motor skill activity because they are so good for a child's cognitive development, visual perception and focus.

It takes children a lot of practice and fine motor control to learn to hold a piece steady as they try to join it to another piece, as can be seen when you watch a toddler trying to push a piece in with brute force.

Puzzles are for every age, from simple peg puzzles for toddlers to 48-piece puzzles for older children.

10. Self-Care Tasks

One of the best ways to develop children's small muscle skills is to encourage independence and let them learn self-care tasks.

Activities like feeding oneself, getting dressed (buttoning clothes, tying shoelaces, closing zips) putting toothpaste on a brush or opening a tap to wash hands will all develop this skill.

It also gives kids a great sense of achievement.

11. Blocks

Every child should own a great set of wooden blocks ( like this one).

Block play is amazing for fine and gross motor development, problem solving, science, early number concepts, spatial development and more.

Children progress through the seven stages of block play as their cognitive understanding improves so this is one of those activities where you can see the growth and maturity.

12. Construction Play

Apart from block play, there are many other forms of construction play, which help improve fine motor skills.

Lego is a wonderful alternative, as well as any other construction toys that link, snap together, fit into each other, or stack.

You can even make constructions out of toothpicks or matches - like a toothpick house or shape.

Hold the ends together with Prestick/Blu Tack, jelly sweets or marshmallows.

13. Cutting and Pasting

Cutting and pasting are great for hand-eye coordination and fine motor control.

This is one of the most "monitored' activities for kids and one that should be done freely and with few restrictions.

Do a search online and you will find countless step-by-step crafts to follow.

While there's a place for this - like when making a Mother's Day card that actually looks like one - generally, cutting and pasting activities should be creative.

This means the focus should be on the process, not the product.

Give kids lots of freedom to cut and paste things into their own collages and let their imaginations run wild. They will be learning a lot more this way.

14. Playing with Loose Parts

Loose parts play is a simple way to make use of anything you have on hand at home or in the class and turn it into an educational activity.

Loose parts can include beads, buttons, coins, shells, matches, pieces of wood, corks, ice cream sticks, lids and containers, pegs and anything else you can think of.

Kids can group and match these items, make art with them, engage in pretend play, pick them up with tweezers and sort them into egg trays and more.

Here are 17 things you can do with buttons.

15. Woodwork

Kids love hammering nails into wood. As long as this is done with child-safe equipment, it's a good exercise in hand-eye coordination.

Use a toy hammer, some soft wood offcuts and a soft backing board.

There are also hammering sets ( like this) and tool kits available online which also encourage pretend play.

16. Cooking Activities

Getting children involved in the kitchen is a good life skill and involves a lot of small muscle movements.

Baking or cooking activities will have kids cutting, chopping, slicing, spreading, stirring, mixing, piercing, squeezing and more.

17. Cards and Games

Playing with cards and games is not just good for intellectual development, but also requires the use of a child's hand muscles.

While children are playing with cards, memory games, sequencing cards, board games and other similar games, they are using their fingers to lift, sort, turn over, stack and handle the cards and playing pieces.

The importance of fine motor skills for preschoolers and toddlers cannot be overstated. It's necessary to expose kids to all the types of activities in this article but remember to focus on the process, not the product.

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The 17 Best Fine Motor Activities for Kids

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Looking for some simple ideas for fine motor activities for your little ones? While you can find many interesting, creative or theme-based activity ideas online, this is a list of the most basic and essential types of fine motor skills activities.

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How does regulation develop?

The ability to regulate starts to develop when we are a baby. Long before we can self-regulate we need help from our caregivers. When babies start to show distress, their caregivers swaddle, carry, rock and feed them. Caregivers should provide what is required to help the baby to organise their arousal. As these needs are met the infant learns patterns and rhythms. They learn that when they hear mum or dad's footsteps, help is on the way.

Regulation develops over time and with experience. Each time a child experiences dysregulation and is able to regulate they learn what helps them. However, this process starts with co-regulation.

Co-regulation

Co-regulation is when someone else helps another individual to regulate. We usually think of adults helping children. However, adults help adults all the time. Think about when a friend or family member was upset and you gave them a hug. Or, a time when they were angry and you listened. One unique feature of mammals is that we frequently co-regulate. You will see a mother cat regulate its kitten through licking but you would never observe a snake or crocodile doing this with their off spring.

Toddlers need huge amounts of support from their caregivers to regulate and self-soothe. Whilst they are starting to be more a bit independent, the regulation centres of their brain are still developing. Sarah Ockwell Smith suggests that it isn't until after a child's fifth birthday that their brain is developmentally mature enough for them to start to self-soothe or self-regulate. Parents of teenagers would also argue that hormones severely disrupt this skill.

Regulation with the help of caregivers is what teaches children to self-regulate as they get older. They learn what they experience. Co-regulation helps them to develop the brain networks and strategies they need to self-regulate.

Self-regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to stay regulated without the help of others. It is the ability to use your own strategies to either calm down or energise. Some individuals need more help to learn how to self-regulate than others. Often individuals with ADHD and ASD need more support to learn to self-regulate. Sensory regulation strategies can help with self-regulation. As can cognitive strategies. We will explore these further below.

Emotional regulation

Emotional regulation refers to the ability to regulate our emotions. Toddlers and teenagers find this difficult. For toddlers this is because they haven't yet established the language and brain connections to enable them to regulate their emotions. Teenagers find this more difficult as their hormones and brain connections and changing. They need time to get used to these changes.

Neurologically the front part of our cortex (our frontal lobe) is responsible for emotional regulation. The connections to this part of the brain continue to develop into adulthood. The ability to regulate emotions improves as these connections strengthen. Again, some individuals, including those with autism, need more support to develop these connections.

What about sensory regulation strategies?

Sensory regulation strategies are strategies which use the senses to help with regulation. These are often used to support individuals with autism and those who experience sensory processing differences. But in reality, they can be helpful for everyone.

The goal when using sensory regulation strategies is to help the individual to regulate. They are often using the sensory strategy alongside them, so to support co-regulation, initially. The longer term goal would be that they could self-regulate using the strategy. Programmes like the Zones of Regulation can be helpful to teach emotional regulation and how to use sensory regulation strategies.

Sometimes the individual may need to increase their arousal level. This would mean using a sensory regulation strategy that would make them more alert.

Alternatively, sometimes they may need to decrease their arousal level. So, they will need a sensory regulation strategy to helm them to calm down.

What are some examples of sensory regulation strategies?

I will break this section into two parts. Firstly, I will give strategies that can help to increase arousal. Secondly, I will look at ideas to help to calm down. If you want to read more about sensory strategies you could also read this article.

Sensory regulation strategies to help to increase arousal (or alert)

Our sensory diet/brain break movement video playlist is a great place to start!

Movement! Go Noodle have some great songs to follow along with if you're stuck inside. Playgrounds, cycling, scooters and running are good options for being outside.

You can also create fun indoor obstacle courses. This video gives a great example.

Sensory regulation strategies to help to decrease arousal (or calm)

We have some great slow movement and breathing activities here in this playlist

Heavy work is a helpful strategy for calming. We explore this further our blog The Mystery of Heavy Work.

Yoga can be a great option. Cosmic Yoga has some great videos to follow. Each video includes a story which can help children to stay engaged.

Breathing exercises can really help to calm and organise the brains. The Smiling Minds app is free and also has good content for children. The charity scope has also published a product called Mindful Monsters, which includes breathing and relaxation activities designed for children. This monkey video gives a nice breathing sequence for children to follow. Koala goes through 2 minutes of breathing here.

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Sensory regulation strategies - how you can use them to help your child.

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The ability to regulate starts to develop when we are a baby. Long before we can self-regulate we need help from our caregivers. When babies start to show distress, their caregivers swaddle, carry, rock and feed them. Caregivers should provide what is required to help the baby to organise their arousal.

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Sensory Integration_ Sensory Processing - Activities - Parents and School (A1001001A15H06B50446G09199)

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Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.
This topic is about DCD in children, although the condition often causes continued problems into adulthood.

Find out more about DCD in adults.

Symptoms of DCD

Early developmental milestones of crawling, walking, self-feeding and dressing may be delayed in young children with DCD. Drawing, writing and performance in sports are also usually behind what is expected for their age.

Although signs of the condition are present from an early age, children vary widely in their rate of development. This means a definite diagnosis of DCD does not usually happen until a child with the condition is 5 years old or more.

Find out more about symptoms of DCD in children.

When to seek medical advice

If you're concerned about your child's health or development, talk to a GP or health visitor, or speak to a nurse, doctor or special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at your child's school.

They may refer your child to an occupational therapist, paediatrician, or another health professional who can assess them and try to identify any developmental problems.

Find out more about diagnosing DCD in children.

Causes of DCD

Doing co-ordinated movements is a complex process that involves many different nerves and parts of the brain.

Any problem in this process could potentially lead to difficulties with movement and co-ordination.

It's not usually clear why co-ordination doesn't develop as well as other abilities in children with DCD.

However, a number of risk factors that can increase a child's likelihood of developing DCD have been identified.

These include:

being born prematurely, before the 37th week of pregnancy

being born with a low birth weight

having a family history of DCD, although it is not clear exactly which genes may be involved in the condition

the mother drinking alcohol or taking illegal drugs while pregnant

Treating DCD

There's no cure for DCD, but a number of therapies can help children to manage their problems.

These include:

being taught ways of do activities they find difficult, such as breaking down difficult movements into smaller parts and practicing them regularly

adapting tasks to make them easier, such as using special grips on pens and pencils so they are easier to hold

Although DCD does not affect how intelligent a child is, it can make it more difficult for them to learn and they may need extra help to keep up at school.

Treatment for DCD will be tailored to your child and usually involves a number of different healthcare professionals working together.

Although the physical co-ordination of a child with DCD will remain below average, this may be less of a problem as they get older and develop coping strategies. Some children may continue to have problems.

However, difficulties in school - particularly producing written work - can become much more prominent and require extra help from parents and teachers.

Find out more about treating DCD in children.

Dyspraxia or DCD?

While many people in the UK use the term dyspraxia to refer to the difficulties with movement and co-ordination that first develop in young children, this term is used less often by healthcare professionals.

Instead, most healthcare professionals use the term developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) to describe the condition.

This term is generally preferred by healthcare professionals because dyspraxia can have several meanings.

For example, dyspraxia can be used to describe movement difficulties that happen later in life because of damage to the brain, such as from a stroke or head injury.

Some healthcare professionals may also use the term specific developmental disorder of motor function (SDDMF) to refer to DCD.

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Developmental co-ordination disorder (dyspraxia) in children

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Read about developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, a condition that affects physical co-ordination.

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Supporting individuals and families affected by dyspraxia/DCD

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Learn how to touch type with the BBC Dance Mat Typing game. It’s a fun introduction to touch typing game for kids and covers levels 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Do you need some support responding to an EHCP or a Working Document? Join one of our online clinics where we'll guide you through the process.

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Hampshire SENDIASS is an impartial Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) that aims to make a positive and lasting difference for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) and their parents and carers. We do this by providing timely confidential, impartial information, advice and support through our online resources, at events and workshops, via our helpline service and through individual casework.

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Hampshire SENDIASS is provided by Polaris Children's Services, part of a leading Children's Services Group with over 24 years of experience in supporting children, young people and their families to build brighter futures.

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The Local Offer includes information about education, health, social care, preparation for adulthood, leisure services and impartial information advice and support. Hampshire's Local Offer (co produced with parents, carers and young people) aims to help you find your way through the maze of information to reach the best solutions for you/your child.

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Hampshire SENDIASS provide information and support to Children & Young People with special education needs and/or a disabilities.

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Family Information and Services Hub | Hampshire's Local Offer for Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities

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Your Local Offer - Information and services available in Hampshire for children and young people (birth to 25) who have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) The Local Offer includes information about education, health, social care, preparation for adulthood, leisure services and impartial information advice and support....

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Special Needs Jungle provides parent-centred information, news, resources and informed opinion about SEN, disability, children’s health and SEN politics

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Freegrounds Junior School SEND Information Report

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Freegrounds Junior School SEND Information Report

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SEND Information - Freegrounds Junior School

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Link to SEND POLICY 2020 This document is produced in accordance with Clause 65 of the 2014 Children’s Act SEND provision at Freegrounds Junior School Freegrounds Junior School is a mainstream Local Authority school in Hampshire for children aged between 7 – 11 years of age. We are an inclusive…

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A guide for parents and carers

Get started

If you're applying for the first time it's much easier to make an account first. That way your card(s) will be added into your account to access whenever you need to view or manage them.

Before you begin, you will need:

1. a device (phone, tablet, computer) with a web browser

2. an email account you have access to

3. a mobile phone that can receive text messages

4. the unique card number of each card you hold

5. details about each child you want to manage a card for

Create an account

You will need to register for a customer account.

Complete the information on the registration form, then press Create account.

You'll get an email sent to the email address you used. When you receive it, follow the instructions in the email and onscreen to set your password.

Your account

When you sign in, you will see a screen titled Your account.

Apply for a Gateway card

When you apply - if you've signed into your account - all your details will be filled in.

You'll still need to enter the details of the child you are applying for.
Apply now for a Gateway Card

Link a Gateway Card

To link your first card, make sure you have a mobile phone handy and the details of your card.

Go to Link a Gateway Card in your browser and you will be prompted to set a secure phone number.

Enter your mobile phone number and press Send.

You'll get a text with a 6 digit number. Enter this in the Confirm code screen and press Continue.

Enter the information on each part of the form as it is presented to you and press Next.

Be careful entering your child's first name and your email address as capital letters do matter.

We'll show you a summary of everything you've entered.

If it all looks good, press Verify details and the card should link to your customer account.

We have to ask for a lot of information here as we need to be sure that you are responsible for the information about the cardholder.

Link another Gateway Card

If you have more than one child with a Gateway Card, on the View linked cards screen you can keep adding more by pressing Link a Gateway Card shown below your cards.

Follow the onscreen instructions to link exactly as you did your first card.

View a Gateway Card

When you have linked a card, you'll be shown the View linked cards screen.

All the Gateway Cards will show on this screen as you apply and link more.

You can press View card - child name to see the whole card and even print it.

The QR codes can be presented on your phone when you check in to Short Break activities so you'll always have a digital copy.

Renew a Gateway card

Cards that need renewing will show on the View linked cards screen with a prompt and a link.

If none of the details have changed, in the Declaration section tick the box. Press Submit.

If any details have changed, press Edit and you can update the information. Press Submit when you have finished

The renewal will go to our team for checking and approving.

Get back to your cards

Now you're all linked up, you can get back to your Gateway Cards by signing into your customer account and choosing My Gateway Cards from the Your account screen.

Help and support

Contact the Short Breaks Team if you require help with your Gateway Card.

Email shortbreaks@hants.gov.uk

Phone 03707 793569

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A guide for parents and carers Get started If you're applying for the first time it's much easier to make an account first. That way your card(s) will be added into your account to access whenever you need to view or manage them.

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Hampshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are an NHS service that aims to help young people up to the age of 18 who are finding it…