Hand Function 0-7 months

Original Editor - Robin Tacchetti based on the course by Pam Versfeld
Top Contributors - Robin Tacchetti, Jess Bell, Kim Jackson, Ewa Jaraczewska and Tarina van der Stockt

Introduction

Infants use their hands to serve many different purposes. During the infant stage of 0-7 months the hands function can best be utilised for:

1. gathering information about their bodies and surrounding surfaces
2. interacting with objects they encounter
3. communication purposes
4. body support and postural control

As the infant grows during this time period, each step of hand development augments the next stage. From birth to 6/8 weeks, most hand movements are spontaneous in nature. As they age from 2-6 months old, they are able to hold visual attention while exploring with their hands. Lastly, infants 6-8 months old can now manipulate and grasp objects to make things occur leading to goal directed behaviour.

DiMercurio A, Connell JP, Clark M, Corbetta D. A naturalistic observation of spontaneous touches to the body and environment in the first 2 months of life. Frontiers in psychology. 2018:2613.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02613/full

Resources

• http://tomt.skillsforaction.com/dev/hands/tutorials-dev-hand-function

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