Traditionally, occupational therapists in Hong Kong had to rely on fine motor assessments tools developed in other countries, as local norms in fine motor development for Chinese children aged 0 to 6 was not available in Hong Kong. Since there are cultural differences among children of different geographic or ethnic groups, the assessment results from imported instruments need to be interpreted with caution before planning treatment.
In view of this, the Occupational Therapist Team of Heep Hong Society, has published The Hong Kong Preschool Children Fine Motor Developmental Assessment (HK-PFMDA) Examiner’s Manual, the first-ever standardised assessment based on the normative data from local children, for occupational therapists to carry out assessment on children aged up to six, and identify the baseline for intervention to enhance children’s everyday occupations in self-care, play and learning.
A press conference was held on 19 July 2009 in collaboration with the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to report and share the success of this project. Ms Amy Chui, Senior Occupational Therapist of Heep Hong Society said, “Preschool fine motor development lays the necessary foundation for children’s everyday occupations in self-care, play and learning. Yet, for children with fine motor developmental problems, their learning performance and life skills was adversely affected. The HK-PFMDA enables occupational therapist to identify children’s fine motor developmental problems in a more accurate manner.”
Dr Andrew Siu of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, remarked that HK-PFMDA was an assessment instrument with excellent reliability and validity that provided more accurate assessment for our children.
From the HK-PFMDA, the Occupational Therapist Team of Heep Hong Society also extracted items observable in the nurseries and kindergartens to compile The Hong Kong Preschool Fine Motor Developmental Checklist for the reference of teachers and parents. It is hoped that with this checklist, preschool children with fine motor developmental problems can be identified and referred for proper treatment.
Click here to download The Hong Kong Preschool Fine Motor Developmental Checklist
