Dexteria offers therapeutic exercises developed to improve fine motor skills and handwriting in kids and adults. It can also be used to build strength and improve motor control. For the best result, the exercises should be done regularly in small sessions. Dexteria is also designed with automatic tracker and self-reporting features so that parents, educators, and therapists can monitor both compliance and progress.

Website: http://www.dexteria.net/

What Users Love About the App

“Good app for working with students who have handwriting difficulties to develop manipulation skills. I’m an OT and cannot wait to try this on my students. I have tried this on my 5–year–old and they love it!”

“My son is 7 and has DS. Working on his fine motor skill engagement is necessary. He also has ADHD, which makes his attention span very short—even when on medication. We have been working on other apps using his fingers to draw letters, but this app has it all! The pinch-it program is incredibly awesome! My son worked on the program for more than 10 minutes each time, requesting to play the app over and over. Though he doesn’t recognize what the colors do, it keeps him occupied to see more and the app continually challenges him. At the end of each level, he screams, “I WIN!” I would say this is a must-have app to practice fine motor skills.”

“As a resource room teacher, I bought this app knowing it would help one of my 2nd-grade students with Apraxia. I have found that ALL my LD students benefit and extremely enjoy “playing” these games before we do any writing. Even my dyslexic students now look forward to writing as long as they can “get their fingers ready to write” first! Thanks for such a useful app! My only suggestion would be the option to keep track of more than one student’s progress. I use this with several students and have to erase, or write down on a piece of paper, where each student ended.”

“I definitely think Dexteria is a worthwhile app. It works on 3 skills; pinching, finger placement/coordinated tapping of fingers such as in keyboarding, and handwriting (tracing of upper and lowercase letters, and numbers). It gives good auditory feedback to show when your stroke is incorrect and gives you a chance to fix it. It also takes data! It will tell you how many seconds it took to complete each letter for example, or how many crabs were pinched, and so on. A great app to reinforce needed fine motor skills!”

“Wow. I was able to pick this up when it was at a discounted price. There was a lot of talk about this app on the A4cwsn Facebook group. I just had to try it out when it went on sale. The talk was right—I was amazed at how quickly my son (3-year-old with Autism) was able to pick it up and start using it. He loves pinching crabs. The fine motor skills practice he is getting is wonderful. He loves it. It is simple and to the point!”

“This program actually makes my son willing to work on fine motor skills! His favorite is “pinching” the crabs, a skill he pretty much hates in any other setting. He’s also gaining valuable knowledge by working on learning the strokes involved with making his letters, just in time for Kindergarten. Thanks for such a great program!”

What Users Dislike About the App

“I bought this app after reading all the hoopla over it and I must admit, technically, it’s a very well done app. I think the exercises are beneficial to those needing fine motor practice, but the bottom line is that this app is dull and boring to the children who need it most. It’s a prime example of therapy for therapy’s sake with no real purpose or reward for all the hard work. I would suggest cake and cookie doodle apps for most of the same therapeutic exercises at a fraction of the cost—AND your kids will not want to stop playing because, at the end of the game, they have something beautiful to behold.”

“Too expensive for just three simple games with little variety for each level. The games are boring! No real challenges or significant increase in difficulty for each level. It works only a few hand movements: lateral pinch, not a tip–to–tip pinch, since the game does not activate when using a tip–to–tip pincher, works finger isolation but does not work manipulative skills, increase active range of motion or general dexterity. Their letter formation activity is no better than those offered on free apps. It needs more work, more games, and more variety before I can recommend this to patients and families.”

“As an OT, this was my favorite app. But now the Write It game simply doesn’t work. The letters will not trace. I have deleted and then reinstalled the app 3 times. I am disappointed because it was a great motivator for teaching the HWT letter and number formation.”

“I thought this app might be helpful to use with kids I work with who have Autism. However, lower functioning kids will have a hard time following the directions. Calibrating the screen in the “Tap It” was next to impossible for my kids, even with my hand-over-hand guidance. Wobbly fingers everywhere! This app will be fun for kids who need help with fine motor skills and are able to understand and follow instructions without much hand-over-hand guidance. The “squish” sound when the crabs are pinched is just gross enough for my 6-year-old to love. The writing section may be frustrating for some kids who don’t “get it right” within 2 tries. I even had some difficulty writing the letters, it took me several tries to get it right. Overall, it’s a nice app with some cool activities for kids who need help with fine motor skills.”

“The crab pinch is the only game that works. The numbers game keeps repeating that we start at the arrow dot (there isn’t one?) and the other game that starts with fingers—I don’t even know what he’s supposed to do for that. He puts his fingers on the screen and then nothing else happens. It clearly isn’t functioning the way it’s intended.”