Influence of Play-based Occupational Therapy Intervention on Preschool Children with Fine Motor Delay

Occupational therapists often provide training activities for preschool children with fine motor delay to enhance their neurodevelopment and sensory integration. Although clinically occupational therapy is often employed to improve fine motor skills in preschool children, few studies have discussed the effects following occupational therapy. The subjects of this study were 3- to 5-year-old preschool children diagnosed with delay in fine motor development. These children received occupational therapy. After 1 year of treatment or less than 1 year after treatment was stopped, they were assessed again for comparative analysis of the effects of occupational therapy intervention. Fifty-three preschool children with fine motor delay were followed up (37 boys and 16 girls). All subjects showed obvious progress after occupational therapy intervention (p ＜ 0.001), and the effect size was large (Grasping = 1.24, VMI = 0.94). A high proportion of children initially diagnosed with delayed development improved to normal level of development (Grasping, 51.1%; VMI, 40.5%), and 57.4% of children initially diagnosed with delay in development of overall fine motor skills improved to normal level of development after occupational therapy intervention. From the results of this study, occupational therapy can help children to improve or even reach normal level of fine motor development. The results of this study provide a reference for occupational therapists in clinical practice.