Can Your Child Follow A Pattern?
What Are Pattern Skills?
Patterning skills are simply your child’s ability to follow or create a pattern. As a pediatric physical therapist I spend a lot of time helping kids with their ability to physically follow a pattern. And when I say pattern I mean things like, clap your hands, reach your arms up, and jump. As simple as those 3 things sound, they can be really difficult for kids to do.
In order for a child to be able to follow a movement pattern they need to have some basic skills. I have done several videos on many of these basic skills. Below is a short explanation of each, but I have linked the full length video explanation below this section.
They need to physically be able to move the necessary body parts to follow the pattern.
They need to have good proprioceptive awareness (knowing where your body is in space).
They need to have good coordination skills (the ability to use different parts of our body together smoothly and efficiently).
They need to have good directionality skills (understanding what up, down, over, and under mean).
They need to have a good working memory. Working memory is one of our executive function skills that allows us to keep small amounts of information in our short term memory so we can use it for the task at hand.
They need to have good visual and or auditory processing skills (the ability to take in information they see or hear and process the appropriate output)
Let’s go back to the pattern I first used: clap your hands, reach your arms up, and jump. To complete this pattern I have to:
Take in and process what you’re asking for through my vision and/or hearing.
Keep that information at the ready in my working memory.
Understand which direction I have to move to complete those movements.
Ask my body to complete the activity with the appropriate amount of strength and coordination.
As I am moving my body is constantly accessing where my limbs are through proprioception to be sure I am doing the movements accurately.
That’s a lot of complex work. So, it makes sense that learning how to follow a pattern is something that takes work and practice.
Why Are Pattern Skills Important?
Pattern skills help kids develop all of skills we just talked about:
Strength and endurance which are important for long term health.
Proprioception: Knowing where our bodies are in space allow us to perform complex gross and fine motor movement patterns. If I don’t really know where my body is, am I going to be able to walk through a crowded hallway without bumping into people or objects?
Coordination: The ability to use different parts of our body together smoothly and efficiently allows us to write, draw, play on the playground, play sports, play a musical instrument, and so on.
Directionality: Without a good sense of direction you can’t follow a map, find your way around your school, or drive a Car.
Working Memory is important for just about everything we do from reading to math to solving problems.
Visual and auditory processing allow us to receive information through our eyes and ears and then act on it.
Let's Practice Patterns
Pattern following can be frustrating activity. Make sure to do short increments and keep an eye on your child to be sure they aren’t overly frustrated. We always want kids to feel like a success when they are working on something hard. Make sure to end on a high note.
When I practice patterns with children I use this progression to increase success and limit frustration.
Start with 2 actions in the same category like 2 body parts. “Touch your nose and touch your mouth.”
Make sure to keep your Rhythmic and consistent. I often clap or snap. You can even use a metronome to help.
Next try 3 movements in the same category. ” Touch your knees, touch your ears, and touch your belly.”
Once they have mastered that, try adding different categories of movement: ” Touch your nose and jump.”
To make it a little more challenging you can then ask for movements that require different side of the body to act in isolation: “Snap on the right and stomp your left foot.”
The final level of difficulty is to begin scaling back on your cues/instructions. For example, only demonstrate the movements without verbally explaining or visa versa.
Be sure to let your child create a pattern for you to follow.
Over the next 3 weeks I am going to be putting out some pattern following videos for you to try. Each week I am going to level up the activities making them just a little more challenging.
If you don’t want to use videos, try these simple games:
Simple Songs: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and the Hokey Pokey
Simple Games: Simon Says (adjust for age) and Twister
Ask your child to grab things around the house. Increase the number of items
Help them follow a recipe with you.
Learn a tik tok dance together.
I hope you have a great time practicing patterns together. See next time!
-Heather
