Left, Right, Left

2 strategies to help improve your child’s coordination skills

Practice activities using both sides of the body.

by Miriam Frankel, OT

If your child exhibits poor coordination, this issue probably impacts their everyday life and often those around him. They may have a tendency to frequently knock objects off the table, spill beverages at mealtime, or have difficulty playing sports at recess with friends or making simple dance moves to a rhythm.

Many parents seek help when their child’s coordination is not up to par, but they may not always be eligible for therapy. This can be extremely frustrating for a parent who wants to help their child.

Here are 2 strategies you can use at home to help improve your child’s coordination skills:

If your child has difficulty with jumping jacks, jumping rope, or even walking or running without stumbling, they may struggle to coordinate both sides of the body in an organized fashion. Encourage activities that use both sides of the body, including the following: a) Pushing or pulling a box, laundry basket, or a sheet with a heavy toy or sibling on it, with both hands. b) Jumping through a hoop or over sticks, keeping their feet together. c) Walking around the house or garden while winding thread around a spool.

Enhance your child’s understanding of direction.

Children who struggle with poor coordination often have a poor awareness of direction and discerning the difference between right and left-laterality.

The good news is that these skills can be improved. Instead of simply pointing to your child’s shoes under the table and telling him, “Your shoes are there. Go and get them,” you may want to say, “Your shoes are under the table, near your chair.” When the child responds by looking in that direction, or better yet, retrieving the shoes from under the table, their awareness of direction is being stimulated.

When telling your child to put on their shoes, rather than simply instructing them, “Put on your shoes,” it would be more beneficial to say, “Put on your right shoe first, and then your left shoe.” This will get them thinking about right and left, and repeated scenarios such as these will help to assist your child’s lateral coordination.

While you may find your child’s clumsiness irritating, there are steps you can take to alleviate the challenge from the comfort of your home. Plus, you can get the whole family involved in any of these exercises to create an enjoyable afternoon of movement activities.

Miriam (Manela) Frankel OTR/L is a mental health occupational therapist, founder of the online platform ChildrenBloom.com, and The Thrive Group, with offices in Brooklyn and Passaic. ChildrenBloom.com provides toolkits for parents and educators to deal with struggling children. Miriam is the author of The Parent-Child Dance and an international speaker.