[Source: The Inspired Treehouse]

Teaching a child to do a new gross motor skill, especially a highly coordinated one that involves crossing midline or use of both sides of the body, can be a challenge.  If you don’t believe me, try getting a kindergartener to do a jumping jack for the first time.

As therapists, we often use cueing to help kids through these awkward first tries.   Auditory cues like “make your body look like and ‘X’ and now and ‘I’” work for some.   Other times, we use visual cues — a concrete picture that the child can see that tells him where to place his feet to make the jumping jack pattern happen.

The fun thing about visual cues is that they can be utilized for single skill practice or embedded within another activity to reinforce a skill.

Learn More on The Inspired Treehouse