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The ability of the child to learn fine motor skills is dependent on them using their hands and manipulating objects to explore them. The child’s hands and wrists develop physically during this age range to support the learning.
At birth, the 9 small bones in the wrist are minimal and these develop over the whole of childhood being fully formed by around 4½ years in girls and 5 years old, in boys. This may help to explain why girls appear to develop better dexterity, such as writing skills, at an earlier age than boys do.
Be aware
Assessing the level of maturation of the wrist bones is important when assessing physical development. Wrist x-rays are taken when there is a situation that may have affected the child’s growth. So the child’s bone age can be compared with the child’s chronological age. Any difference may be indicative of altered growth.
patterns.