## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

#### Subdomain: Motor Development

#### Goal: Children develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and work with tools.

#### Skill Progression: Reach/Grasp/Release

#### Age: 54-60 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

### Grasp: Draws with dexterity, using a dynamic tripod grasp, with the little and ring finger tucked into the palm, the thumb and index finger grasping the pencil, and the middle finger supporting underneath the pencil (movement comes from fingers rather than arm and hands)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child writing and drawing.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation is needed.

Behavior Observed

Mature grasp allows the child to make precise, controlled movements with writing tools. He uses all types of writing tools now.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

As, with earlier grasp patterns, early childhood educators and parents can provide many opportunities for children to draw. Demonstrate the appropriate pencil grip. Provide a pencil grip for the pencil if the child demonstrates an immature grasp. This can help the child move into a more precise grasp

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.