Fine motor skills is the coordination of small muscle movements involving synchronization of hands and fingers. It starts with a gross grasp and develops into a precision grasp and includes in-hand manipulation. Gross grasp is the use of the larger muscles in the arm facilitating the whole hand to manipulate objects. A precision grasp involves the coordinated movement of the thumb, index/middle finger for small object manipulation. In-hand manipulation is the ability to use all fingers to move small objects within the hand without using the other hand.
Visual perceptual skills help children obtain and organize visual information from the environment and interpret what they see. Visual perceptual skills may or may not include motor involvement. When motor skills are included it is known as visual motor or eye hand coordination and it includes bilateral coordination. Eye-hand coordination uses the eyes to direct attention and the hands to execute the task. Bilateral coordination is the ability to use two hands to complete a task. It can be two hands doing the exact same thing or both hands doing different things at the same time.
Hand strength is needed in order to perform functional and academic motor tasks in the school setting such as to hold a pencil, self-feeding, carrying school materials and to access playground equipment.