Background: Available evidence shows that occupational therapy interventions help improve fine motor skills in children with motor difficulties. Access to occupational therapy services is, however, limited to such children. Various studies have established that school-based occupational therapy promises significant benefits compared to clinical services offered in clinical settings.

Aim: The current study adopts a systematic review to evaluate the evidence supporting or disproving school-based occupational therapy’s effectiveness in improving the occupational performance of children with fine motor difficulties.

Method: An electronic search of PubMed and Medline academic databases for journal articles dating between 2005 and 2021. Studies included in the review exclusively applied occupational therapy interventions in randomized or case-controlled studies in a school setting. Further, the included studies had at least one measurable outcome based on improved fine motor skills among children aged 3 to 17.

Results: Two studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and utilized interventions to improve basic fine motor skills. Both studies provide evidence of significant improvements in fine motor skills among their study population. Both studies also credit improvements to increased teacher awareness on occupational therapy interventions in the study.

Conclusions: School settings can significantly enhance access to therapy services for children with fine motor difficulties. Evidence from studies also shows that school-based occupational therapy is highly effective in improving the operational performances of children with fine motor difficulties. Policy formulators should look at school-based occupational interventions as high-potential solutions to the challenge of service access.

Occupational Therapy

Various studies highlight the benefits of occupational therapy in combating fine motor difficulties. The intervention being for significantly improving children’s fine motor skills (Ferguson et al., 2013; Piller and Torrez, 2019). The range of assistance offered by occupational therapists encompasses handwriting and hand and finger motion control through proprioceptive interventions. In one study, it was introduced to observe its effect on handwriting difficulties.

The students registered a remarkable improvement in their handwriting skills and legibility (Smits-Engelsman et al., 2013). Other studies have established that regular occupational therapy besides student-led practice had positive writing outcomes among children aged five and six years with fine motor difficulties (Case-Smith et al., 2013).

Poor development of fine motor skills results from various factors low physical activity, among others. (Case-Smith et al., 2013). Scholars argue that teachers have an imperative role in ensuring that their students actively engage in fine motor activities to boost their development (Bazyk et al., 2009).