Motor skills development camp in Mumbai.

How motor skills can help your child

Sports are an integral part of life. Let’s take the example of kicking a ball.

The brain first needs to figure out where the body is in space, needs to balance, figure out the texture of the ball, and the floor, decide the size of the ball, judge the distance, decide the force with which to kick, assimilate the required muscle groups, realize the obstacles on the way, go on with eye-foot coordination and then that 1 action of KICK. All this in the blink of an eye – the amount of time that you are required, to respond in.

How does all this happen – the little brain, that is yet developing has to have a strong basis to analyze and react to all this in a fraction of a second.

The foundation of so many systems to work together is formed by

• The movement system, which gives input to the body awareness system. These 2 together form the foundation on which the brain is free to interpret the environment, judge, and kick that shot.

What happens if these systems are not effectively stimulated due to unfortunate circumstances – like COVID? Complex motor activities develop those motor skills, which form newer and stronger neural connections to develop these foundational systems.

Balance does not just happen. It is a learned behavior – where we have to practice a series of skills, which lead to functional balance.

Have you ever wondered why certain motor behaviors you need to pay attention to and the others like driving a car, tying shoelaces, or turning a page, you don’t need to pay attention to?

Once an activity is learned, the brain has a stash of already formed neural connections to select from. It analyses and selects the correct motor response for the task. And that’s why that particular motor skill is automatic.

When you are doing the activity for the first time – the brain is busy forming a new neural pathway for the same – so need you to pay conscious attention to it.

So all we need to do is feed the brain with that many more gross motor and fine motor movement patterns by practicing over and over again in order to build that appropriate response so that the ball goes just that much farther away to hit right to that goal post.

Whatever we provide our children with – we ultimately need them to be able to carry themselves with confidence.

The movement and the balance systems allow us to have a sense of gravitational security: the confidence that we can maintain our posture without falling.

The finesse of the motor skills allows us to move smoothly and efficiently.

Moreover, it moves alongside our other systems and provides head neck stability which helps our eyes to move effectively and process sounds in the environment.

A well-developed motor skill system allows us to feel confident and safe during movement activities, even when our feet are off the ground. Calm and controlled stop and start, comfort with climbing, swinging, somersaulting, jumping, knowing that the body will adapt and maintain balance without getting hurt.

Motor skills that build on your CEREBELLUM – The area of the brain that is responsible for your balance but also regulates our kids’ emotions, motor movement, balance, and coordination. Thus stimulating the cerebellum helps the body to calm down, attend to social skills and attend to what the teacher is teaching in class.

Gross motor development in the early years will maximize our child’s potential in the areas of,

• Physical Growth – Good eating, and sleeping habits
• General Body Fitness - Good strength and good muscle tone
• General awareness – What we call street smartness, a basis for your eyes to move effectively to learn and adapt to the environment around you.
• Posture – Correct use of your core muscles to hold your body upright.
• Foundation for fine motor skills – with a correct posture, good scapular, and shoulder stability which allows free distal movements of your hands and fingers across the paper.
• Confidence and Self-esteem – to effectively communicate through the day without getting tired.
• Sleep
• Problem Solving – The various neural connections that have formed will guide you to navigate through it.
• Abstract thinking – varied movements transfer your concepts to action, through trial and error.
• Cognitive development – the learning that takes place through trials and errors
• Social skills development
• Intellectual growth – Watching our children learn through the various exploratory tasks by experimenting, gathering evidence, and justifying their observations surely builds on their intelligence.
• Attention and Concentration – A basis for learning and growth.

Do you want your child to improve their gross motor skills? Mpower is conducting a motor skills development camp designed by Kajal Vasa, an Occupational Therapist with 25 years of experience. This 7 days workshop is for kids of age 5-7 years focusing on skills like Neural connections, attention, concentration, fine motor skills, writing skills, planning, anticipation, and effective basis for learning and social interaction.

If you are interested in enrolling your child in this wonderful motor skills development workshop, please contact Mpower Centre, Mumbai at +919702800044. Limited seats available.

Workshop dates- 26th May, 2022 – 3rd June, 2022

Also read,

https://mpowerminds.com/blog/What-is-Occupational-Therapy-Common-questions-people-ask-about-Occupational-therapy