Seperation of the Hand

The hand can be separated into 2 sides. The thumb, index, and middle finger are part of one group while the last two fingers of the hand are another. When a child is able to use these two sides separately, is it referred to as “dissociation of the two sides of the hand”. This is a very important skill required for using tools such as a pencil, feeding utensils, scissor cutting, and more. Imagine trying to button a shirt while using all five fingers of one hand. Fastening a button requires a neat pincer grasp (using the thumb and index finger) while the remainder of the fingers are tucked in the palm. Children who struggle with separating the hands may have difficulty with handwriting, scissor cutting, dressing, tying shoelaces, and more.