Boss Hand and Helper Hand: The Original Dream Team
The ability to use your two upper extremities together in order to accomplish an activity is called bilateral coordination. Bilateral coordination is a fancy name to describe a highly important and functional skill. The kids I work with know their two extremities as boss hand (dominant) and helper hand (non-dominant). In this way, I let kids know that both are important and function best when working as a team! Bilateral coordination develops throughout childhood and progresses from uncoordinated movement patterns of the two arms to well-controlled manipulation of objects with both hands synchronously.
Being able to coordinate both sides of the body is an indication that both sides of the brain are communicating and sharing information with each other. Children who have difficulty coordinating both sides of their body can have massive difficulty with completing daily living tasks (dressing, tying shoes), fine motor activities (stringing beads), visual motor tasks (writing, cutting, catching), and gross motor activities (crawling, walking, climbing stairs, riding a bike).
There are three basic bilateral movements which include symmetrical, alternating, and asymmetrical movements. Symmetrical movement uses both hands together to do the same movement such as rolling dough with a rolling pin. Alternating movement refers to each hand doing the same thing, but at different times as in drumming. Lastly, asymmetrical movement requires each hand to do something different at the same time. An example of asymmetrical bilateral coordination would be using scissors to cut with one hand while holding and rotating the paper with the other hand.
There are endless fun activities that can be set up to assist in developing this extremely important skill. Here’s a concise list of my top 10 favorites…
Balloon volleyball using two hands to bat the balloon
Play with a Mr. Potato Head
Tear paper then use pieces to make mosaic art
Pull apart cotton balls to make snow pictures
Wheelbarrow walking or other animal walks
Work on a vertical surface-hold paper against the wall with one hand while coloring with the other
Play Zoom Ball (available on Amazon)
Clap to pop bubbles
Use construction toys such as Legos, Magnatiles, Bristle Blocks
Get moving- tap into the vestibular system (sense of movement) because this system is connected to bilateral integration…so, jump on a trampoline, bounce on a therapy ball, go down a slide, do somersaults, and log rolls
