In-Hand Manipulation Skills

Inhand manipulation is the ability to move objects around in your hand, and there are three components. Translation:  The ability to move an object from the palm of the hand to the fingertips and back to the palm. Shift:  The linear movement of an object between the fingers such as moving your fingers up and down the shaft of a pencil. Rotation:  The movement of an object with the finger around one or more of its axis, such as when you spin a pencil around with your fingers.

In-Hand Manipulation Translation Movements

There are two types of translation movements. The first is finger-to-palm translation, and an example would be picking up coins one at a time with one hand, and storing them in the palm. Other finger-to-palm translation activities would also include picking up small items like small pegs for pegboards, small chips such as for travel-sized games like Connect Four, and small beads for stringing. Very young children tend to rake or scoop small items into the palm. Turning the arm over to use “gravity assist” to store items in the palm is common among children and adults. “Drops”, not being able to retain items, are common in young children. The second type of translation movement is palm-to-finger translation. An example would be retrieving coins from the palm one at a time back to the fingers, to place in a vending machine. Young children may pass objects from one hand back to the other.

Translation Activities

Remember, the goal is to do all activities with one hand, but young children may need to use both. Pick up two to four Connect Four pieces from the table one at a time, then place in the slots one at a time using the same hand. Pick up small pegs one at a time and store them in the palm, then retrieve one at a time to place in a pegboard.

In-Hand Manipulation Shift Movements

The shift is the IHM skill used when picking up a pencil in the middle, then scooting the fingers down the pencil to the point.

In-Hand Manipulation Rotation Movements

Simple rotation or complex rotation would be used to pick up a pencil off of a table and rotate it in the hand to position the pencil for use. For simple rotation, your pencil would be lying horizontally in front of you, with the point toward the right. When you pick it up with your right hand, you rotate it about 90° to rest the pencil in your web space. For complex rotation, the pencil would be oriented to the left. When you pick it up with your right hand, you have to do a little ‘baton twirls’ to orient the pencil to rest in the web space. (Watch my IHM video below and the difference should be clear.) Remember, the eventual goal is to do all activities with one hand, but young children must use both. For example, when picking up small pegs, a young child will tend to pass the peg to the other hand and back again to orient the peg for placement into the pegboard. Children then tend to progress to “trapping” the pegs to their bodies to assist them in rotating the pegs.

Rotation Activities

• Manipulate shapes for shape sorter.
• Manipulate letter cubes for Boggle Jr.
• Manipulate pegs for placement in a pegboard.
• Manipulate pegs for Lite Brite designs.
• Manipulate game pieces for board games, such as Trouble or Sorry.
• Make up new games with existing board games, which emphasize handling (rotating) the small game pieces.
• Flip pegs or dowels in putty or Play-dough.
• Retrieve crayons from the bottom of the box.
• Retrieve crayons from the top of the box