Child Motor Skills

 Back to:  Therapist Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns

My baby is 9 1/2 months old. He learn to sit at 9 months and rolled over at around 6 months. His fine motor skills are very poor. He did not grab at all until 6 months and now he grabs but not all the time. He often only grabs if I stroke his hand first. In a good mood he can grab with both hands and he can put things in his mouth but does those things very rarely. He is not sensitive to touch and is very smiley with good eye contact. I have some exercise ideas from a physical therapist who diagnosed him with low muscle tone and hyperflexible joints but could that account for his poor motor skills? I wanted to know what are the possible conditions he might have and should I be looking for a new physical therapist?

Without seeing your baby in person, it is difficult to know why he is showing a delay with his grasping and fine motor skills in general. It certainly can be due to low muscle tone. Low muscle tone could have also contributed to him rolling and sitting slightly later than average. Low tone makes it difficult for a child to move his body against gravity, thus gross and fine motor movements are particularly hard. I am glad he is seeing a PT, but if he has not seen an occupational therapist, you might want to consult an OT as well, since the OT deals more with the fine motor skills than the PT. You can read on our website what fine motor skills are typical for a baby of 9 months.

This is an article on a website for children with Down Syndrome (I am not suggesting your son has Down Syndrome, but since children with DS have low tone, you may find this article helpful), that has some nice ideas for ways to encourage gross and fine motor skills for children with low tone.

Back to:  Therapist Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns

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