At Dynseo, we observe every day the incredible learning journey of children. The acquisition of writing is one of the most fundamental and complex stages of this journey. Often, we focus on the final result: well-formed letters, words aligned on a line. But what happens upstream? Writing is actually the peak of a pyramid of skills, the solid and invisible base of which is made up of sensory-motor development. It is on this foundation that we designed our tools, including our COCO BOUGE application, to prepare the ground and give every child the best chances of mastering the graphic gesture.
The act of writing can be compared to building a house. You don't put the roof on before you have solid walls, and you don't build the walls without deep foundations. For writing, these foundations are gross motor skills, posture, and above all, fine motor skills. It is the latter, the ability to execute precise and coordinated movements with the hands and fingers, that is the true architect of the writing gesture. Our mission is to provide teachers and children with the plans and materials to build these foundations in a playful and effective way.
Even before holding a pencil, a child must develop a set of prerequisite skills that will allow them to control their body, then their hand, and then their fingers. It is a process that builds step by step, often through play and exploration. Ignoring these steps risks building on unstable ground, leading to difficulties, frustration, and a disinterest in the act of writing.
The invisible prerequisites of the graphic gesture
We often think that writing only concerns the hand. In reality, the whole body participates. For a child to control the small muscles of their fingers, they must first have a stable base. This includes:
- A good posture: Being able to sit correctly on a chair, feet on the ground, back straight, requires sufficient muscle tone in the trunk. Without this stability, all the child's energy is devoted to not falling, leaving little for the complex task of writing.
- The stability of the upper joints: Movement control starts from the shoulder, spreads to the elbow, and then to the wrist. A strong and stable shoulder allows the arm to position the hand precisely on the paper. A flexible and stable wrist allows for adjusting the orientation of the pencil and making fluid movements.
- The dissociation of movements: The child must learn to move one part of their body independently of others. To write, they must be able to move their fingers without their wrist or entire arm moving rigidly.
These elements constitute gross and postural motor skills, the foundation on which fine motor skills can flourish.
Fine motor skills: the conductor of the fingers
Once the body is stabilized, attention can turn to the hands. Fine motor skills are this fascinating ability to use the small muscles of the hands and fingers for delicate tasks. They are the conductor that coordinates the thumb-index pinch, the applied force, the speed of movement, and the precision of the trajectory.
For writing, several components of fine motor skills are essential:
- The strength and endurance of the fingers: Holding a pencil for several minutes without fatigue.
- The digital pinch (or three-finger grip): The ability to hold the pencil effectively between the thumb, index, and middle finger.
- Hand-eye coordination: The brain's ability to use visual information to guide the hand and perform a precise movement. This allows for following a line or forming a loop.
- Dexterity: The agility and speed of the fingers to execute the complex movements that form letters and words.
It is precisely on the development of these skills that we have focused a large part of our COCO BOUGE application.
COCO BOUGE: our playful approach to building the foundations of the graphic gesture
We are convinced that the most effective learning is that which does not feel like work. For a child, play is the most powerful engine of discovery and development. That is why COCO BOUGE presents itself as a collection of stimulating games, designed in collaboration with health professionals (occupational therapists, psychomotor therapists), to specifically target pre-writing skills. The application becomes a true gym for the fingers, where each exercise is a game and each game reinforces a key skill.
Developing dexterity and finger dissociation
Many games in COCO BOUGE require the child to use their fingers in an isolated and coordinated manner. For example, one game may involve squashing ants that appear on the screen, but only with the index finger, or following a light path by sliding their finger without lifting it. These activities, seemingly simple, are fundamental. They teach the child to "command" each finger individually, to dissociate the movement of the index from that of the middle finger, for example. This is the basis of the flexibility needed to form the curves and varied lines of the letters of the alphabet.
Strengthening hand-eye coordination
The connection between what the eye sees and what the hand does is at the heart of writing. COCO BOUGE offers multiple exercises to solidify this link.
- Tracking games: The child must follow a moving target with their finger. This trains the eye to anticipate a trajectory and the hand to adjust in real-time. This is exactly the skill required to avoid going outside the lines when coloring or to follow the lines of a notebook.
- Connection games: Connecting dots to form an image. This classic exercise is transformed into an interactive digital activity. It forces the child to aim for a target (the next dot) and to draw a controlled line to reach it. This is direct training for letter formation, which is ultimately just a sequence of dots connected by segments and curves.
Mastering pressure and movement control
A common problem among young writers is poor management of pressure on the pencil. Some press so hard that they tear the paper and tire quickly, while others barely touch the paper, making their writing almost illegible. Our games are designed to develop fine motor control. In some challenges, a movement that is too abrupt or too much pressure leads to failure. The child thus learns intuitively to modulate their strength and to perform softer and more controlled gestures, a skill directly transferable to using a pen or pencil.
Transversal skills for global learning
If COCO BOUGE is focused on motor development, we know that writing, like any learning, does not rely on a single skill. It is a complex cognitive act that engages other essential functions. Our ecosystem of applications, including COCO PENSE, has been designed to address this global aspect. Writing is the result of a collaboration between a skilled hand and an attentive and organized mind.
Attention and concentration, the fuels of learning
A child can have the best fine motor skills in the world, but if they cannot concentrate for more than a few seconds on their paper, writing will remain a daunting task. The games in COCO BOUGE and COCO PENSE are calibrated to capture the child's attention and maintain it for short but increasing durations. The playful format, rewards, and progressive levels of difficulty encourage the child to stay focused on the task to succeed. They thus train their "attention muscle," which will benefit them not only for writing but for all school activities.
Visual-spatial awareness: locating oneself on the page
Writing is about organizing signs in a defined space: the page. This requires highly developed visual-spatial skills. Where do you start writing? How do you respect the margins? What size should the letters be? How do you orient a "b" in relation to a "d"?
Puzzle, maze, or model reproduction games present in COCO PENSE are excellent exercises for this. They teach the child to analyze space, to understand the concepts of up/down, left/right, to plan a route, and to organize elements within a frame. These skills, developed on a tablet, are then reinvested to organize letters on a line and words on a page.
The importance of early detection of difficulties: the case of DYS disorders
Despite all the prevention and training tools, some children continue to face significant and persistent difficulties. When clumsiness seems excessive, when writing remains slow, painful, and illegible despite efforts, it is possible that a structural disorder is at play. It is crucial for us not to leave teachers powerless in these situations. This is where our role goes beyond simply providing applications to extend to training and support.
Understanding DYS disorders: beyond mere "clumsiness"
DYS disorders (dyspraxia, dysgraphia, dyslexia...) are neurodevelopmental disorders. They are neither the result of laziness nor a lack of intelligence.
- Dyspraxia is a disorder of planning and coordination of movements. For a dyspraxic child, automating the writing gesture is extremely difficult. Each letter requires a monumental effort of concentration, as if they were learning it for the first time.
- Dysgraphia specifically affects the quality and speed of writing, without necessarily impacting gross motor skills. The child may be skilled in other areas, but the act of writing remains a major challenge.
Identifying these disorders as early as possible is essential to prevent the child from becoming trapped in a spiral of academic failure and loss of self-confidence.
Our training for teachers: a concrete toolbox
Aware of this need, we have developed specific training for primary school teachers: "Identifying and supporting DYS disorders in primary school". Our goal is to provide you, teachers, with keys to understanding and practical tools to act in the classroom. This training does not aim to make you diagnosticians, but rather informed observers and effective supporters.
The program revolves around several concrete axes:
- Knowing how to spot warning signs: We help you distinguish a simple temporary difficulty from a potentially structural disorder. What are the signs in writing, but also in the general behavior of the student (organization, play, etc.) that should draw your attention?
- Implementing pedagogical adaptations: Once the disorder is suspected or diagnosed, how can you adapt your teaching? We offer you a range of strategies: use of digital tools, adjustment of materials (adapted lines), differentiated assessment, limiting manual copying in favor of manipulation, etc.
- Communicating effectively: How to approach the subject with the family without alarming them? How to collaborate with health professionals who follow the child (occupational therapist, speech therapist, psychomotor therapist)? We provide you with tips to build a real support network around the student.
This training is for us the essential complement to our applications. It allows us to close the loop: to prevent difficulties for the greatest number with COCO, and to know how to specifically support those for whom difficulties persist.
Our commitment: a partnership with teachers for the success of every student
Our philosophy at Dynseo is simple: we believe in the potential of every child, and we are convinced that technology, when well thought out, can be a tremendous lever to reveal it. But we also know that technology alone is not enough. The human element, and particularly the teacher, remains at the center of the educational equation.
COCO and training: two facets of the same mission
COCO PENSE and COCO BOUGE are frontline tools. They allow for working on fundamental skills in a preventive, engaging, and individualized manner, starting from preschool. They provide a playful framework for every child to build, at their own pace, the necessary foundations for calm school learning.
Our training on DYS disorders comes in support when difficulties arise. It equips you to understand, to act, and not to feel isolated. These two offerings are not separate; they are two sides of our commitment to you. One aims to build foundations for all, while the other aims to repair cracks and reinforce the structure for those who need it most.
Supporting you daily
You, teachers, are on the front lines to observe the progress and difficulties of your students. Your role is immense and complex. Our ambition is to position ourselves as a reliable and relevant partner in your daily mission. Whether through an application that awakens curiosity and strengthens your students' skills, or through training that sharpens your perspective and enriches your teaching practice, our goal remains the same: to work together so that the path of writing and learning is a positive and rewarding adventure for every child. Because mastering the graphic gesture is much more than knowing how to write: it is acquiring a powerful tool for thinking, communicating, and opening up to the world.
The article "Fine motor skills and writing: COCO BOUGE prepares for the graphic gesture" highlights the importance of fine motor skills in developing graphic skills in children. For those interested in improving cognitive and motor abilities, a complementary article to discover is Top Exercises for Daily Life Brain Training. This article offers daily exercises to stimulate the brain, which can also help strengthen fine motor skills and the coordination necessary for writing.
