- Attention and concentration: The ability to maintain attention to a specific task for an extended period of time as the core strength is not challenged.
- Body Awareness: Knowing body parts and understanding the body’s movement in space in relation to other limbs and objects for negotiating the environment or ball and bike skills.
- Bilateral integration: Using two hands together with one hand leading: e.g. holding a tennis racquet with the non-dominant hand with the ‘helping’ non-dominant hand holding and stabilising only between hits.
- Crossing Mid-line: The ability to cross the imaginary line running from the child’s nose to pelvis that divides the body into left and right sides, which also influences hand dominance.
- Hand eye coordination: The ability to process information received from the eyes to control, guide and direct the hands in the performance of a given task such as handwriting or catching a ball.
- Hand Dominance: The consistent use of one (usually the same) hand for task performance which is necessary to allow refined skills to develop.
- Muscular strength: A muscles ability to exert force against resistance (e.g when climbing a tree to push or pull up).
- Muscular endurance: The ability of a singular muscle or group of muscles to exert force repeatedly against resistance to allow sustained physical task engagement.
- Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change alertness level appropriate for a task or situation which then allows better attention to the task.
- Postural Control: The ability to stabilize the trunk and neck to enable coordination of the limbs for controlled task performance.
- Body Awareness (Proprioception): The information that the brain receives from the muscles and joints to make us aware of body position and body movement which in turn allows skills to become ‘automatic’.
- Sensory processing: The accurate processing of sensory stimulation in the environment as well as in our own body for quick and physically appropriate responses to movement.
- Isolated movement: The ability to move an arm or leg while keeping the remainder of the body still needed for refined movement (e.g. throwing a ball on handed or swimming freestyle).
by childdevelopment.com.au