Dexteria - Fine Motor Skills App Reviews

So far Im very disappointed. This not worth 4.99. I got it for my daughter with special needs . The triangle touch seems good but the crab pinch is totally lame. The crabs do nothing. No movement, no sound. And there are other childrens apps that have far superior tracing practice.

Summary: good for children having trouble with their "handwriting"/fine motor skills. Good oral feedback. Nice tracking/reporting feature for parents. My child showed improvement. Feel app was well worth the money. Wish they made more apps this good. Details: The sounds and movements in the pinching crab exercise make it a fun game for my son that entices him to practice. He picked it right up and stared playing. Over weeks I have seen an improvement in his pencil grip. This is an improvement we were not able to accomplish with regular writing exercises, hand holding, grip devices or other apps. The writing exercises use strategically placed targets to help with letter/number formation. I like the escalating corrective feedback. I have described this to others as having an occupational therapist over your shoulder. The targets and the feedback are what set this app apart from other "tracing" apps. Seeing my sons poor "handwriting" I looked for handwriting apps to help him practice. He loved the music and the animation. However it was easy for him, there was no "consequence" for errors or verbal coaching him to correct mistakes. This comes to one of my two adjustment opportunities. I didnt find this app until I used the vernacular of the industry. As a parent, I saw this as a "handwriting" problem to be solved. When the school reinforced this calling it a "fine motor skills" issue I used that verbiage in my key word search. That is how i found this app. They need to tag the product so it gets in the hands of those who really need it. Second opportunity - totally selfish - make more apps that are such a beautiful marriage of professional expertise and software development. This app did what I needed it to wonderfully. I had a desired goal that I did not know how to accomplish. This app did it and distinguished itself while doing so. [Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with this company. I am just a very satisfied customer.]

Pinch it and Trace it work very well. Tap it frequently does not work and will not calibrate the childrens hands. When using Tap it the game will just shut down without warning. I like the other two games but the Tap it needs work.

Great app for practicing letters and fine motor skills.

This is a great app. My kids love it but I would love it more if you could type words so they can practice writing their names properly ect.

I bought this app for my fine motor challenged 2 1/2 year old, thinking this could help him. Its far too difficult for him to even attempt. The crab pinching activity was the only activity he would even try, but there was no option to make the crabs bigger and work his way down. Perhaps Ill try it with him if he still needs it in a couple of years...

Great for my pediatric OT patients!

Im an occupational therapist for children on all different levels. This app has been great to use and fun for kids.

Perfect for children working on fine motor control and strengthening in or out of therapy! Love the app and use it all the time.

Im an occupational therapist and really enjoy this app. It is great for fine motor and handwriting development. My kids love using it and it makes for fun therapy sessions. The only thing I would suggest is some updates so u dont have to just pinch crabs, maybe u could have different things as a target. Also I wish there was cursive letter tracing and maybe some "blank" paper so kids could practice without tracing.

I use this to improve my finger strength and independence. The basic settings are good for young kids but not very challenging for Adults. Fortunately you can adjust each levels setting to a point where it can be impossibly difficult if you so chose. I use this daily and have dramatically improved finger independence.

I am a school OT and love is app! My students will play the pinching activity far longer than they will use tongs/clips to practice pinching. Could you possibly add a choice of what they want to catch (balls, butterflies, etc.)? Some of my students are a bit wary of the crabs!

This is a great app to work on fine motor skills. The letter portion is very sensitive and is frustrating for many kids, the finger isolation portion is great but tough for kids with weakness because their palms droop to rest on the screen, the pinching is great for all ages but Id say the rest is great for 7 years plus- I also recommend using a stylus pen with the letters. But overall- its a great app and totally worth the price.

Love this app, so useful in therapy. However, many of my students are frustrated by the timed component when tapping their individual fingers. It would be great to be given an untimed option for the Tap It portion of this app. It would allow the students to be given the extra processing time needed when learning to isolate their fingers, while minimizing frustration.

This app might have saved the way I use my hands(I mean Im trying to use my right hand for eating and doing things),but still Im not so good at the writing part. Well, maybe it needs an upgrade with more activities like writing stuff, of course. Anyways, sort of a good app.

I like this app but can not get the finger tap activity to work. When we place our fingertips on the screen, no buttons appear and the app closes. The other activities on this app work fine. Can someone help?

My students say it helps their handwriting, and that writing is becoming easier.

To JAC teacher: I believe the problem you are experiencing with Tap it stems from the new feature called Multitasking Gestures introduced with Apple iOS. You may experience Tap it issues if you have multitasking gestures turned on for your iPad. Multitasking gesture allows you to use 4 or 5 fingers to reveal the multitasking bar, pinch to return to the home screen, and to swipe left/right to switch between apps. Please follow the steps below to try and get it working: 1. On your iPad, open the Settings app, click General on the left, and then scroll to Multitasking Gestures on the right. 2. Toggle Multitasking Gestures to OFF. 3. Launch Dexteria > Tap it to see if it is functioning again.

I am an OT working with students 5-18. I have used it with maybe 5 kids, mostly high school. Would like to be able to track each client within the program. Would like more than the 3 games. Kids seem challenged by the crabs. I couldnt get the first level to work.

After children use a few times they need more variety to make choices, as one reviewer suggested, something other than crabs. E.g. Ink blobs, Lima beans, candy dots or?? I use the shapes scores to encourage improvement.