The Bucks County Intermediate Unit has received a $10,000 grant that will be used by IU specialists to help preschool and kindergarten children at various schools and other educational facilities refine
their fine motor skills.
The grant was awarded by the nonprofit Foundations Community Partnership, a philanthropic grant-making foundation supporting the behavioral health and human service needs of children and
young adults in Bucks County.
Specifically, the money will be used by IU occupation and physical therapy specialists to purchase age-appropriate fine motor curricula and to provide the training for the educational staff on how to successfully integrate and
implement it in their classrooms. The training also includes ongoing weekly support to connect fine motor activities with the curricula and
students’ individual needs, an IU news release said.
“Not only does the program help these students with their physical development, but it also provides them with an enormous boost in their
positive self-esteem, a proven driver in student academic success,” it said.
Fine motor skills are using smaller muscles like those in the hands, fingers and wrists for tasks like writing, buttoning clothing, turning pages, eating,
cutting with scissors and using computer keyboards.
The grant will also allow the IU to collaborate with local occupational therapy college and university programs to support setting up fine motor tool kits and creating new educational materials regarding fine motor development for teachers and staff.
The IU will also provide family education on how to support fine motor development in young children through play in upcoming Fine Motor Fun Fair events that will be held in each of the three regions —lower, middle and upper — of the county.

Photo above from left to right: Mr. Ron Bernstein, Foundations Community Partnership Executive Director,
presents the grant check to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit’s Ms. Peggy Hoffman, Clinical Supervisor of
Occupational and Physical Therapy; Ms. Tina Giazzoni-Fialko, Occupational Therapist; and Dr. Mark Hoffman,
Executive Director.