Crossing the Body Midline

A curious event occurs everyday without any one of us ever realizing it:

Every day, each one of us engages in crossing our midline without even realizing it. The reason we don't realize it is because it is an integrated movement in our bodies that stems from childhood.

So, what is body midline?

The body midline is an imaginary line that divides your body in half down the middle of your body to make up the Right side and the Left side. It is the ability to reach across the middle of the body with arms and legs crossing over to the other side. For example, crossing your legs.

Before a child fully establishes crossing the midline, the child is usually observed engaging in tasks using only one side of his body. For instance, the child would reach out for an item placed on the right side ONLY using their right hand.

Typically, somewhere between 3 and 6 years of age, most children would have developed and identified their dominant hand which they would use to write, read, eat, draw, colour, etc.

And that's what defines them as right-handed or left-handed.

Crossing the body's midline is an important developmental skill as it promotes coordination and communication of the right and the left hemispheres of the brain. It allows the child to fully interact with their environment. Even when the right hand is occupied, the child can use their left hand to reach out on the right side and grasp the toy. Children also need to develop a dominant hand for tool use before starting formal education.

Many children find it difficult or cannot reach across this imaginary line. Not being able to do so can cause multiple difficulties from writing certain letters like 'X', 'M', or tying shoe laces, eating with spoons and forks or using a pair of scissors.

Let's say:

• Your child may actually “get stuck” in mid-reach and have to switch hands to continue

• They may compensate by moving their whole body or torso to reach toward the opposite side.

• Have difficulty coordinating gross motor patterns (crawling, skipping, jumping jacks)

Each side of the brain controls different types of thinking:

The left side of the brain (in blue colors) represents logical, analytical and objective thinking

The right side however (in red colors) represents intuitive, thoughtful and subjective thinking

Poor midline crossing will affect how your child reads (tracking with the eye from left to right) and writes (using their dominant hand across the writing page).

How can you promote bilateral coordination and midline crossing for your child?

1. Play stacking the blocks

2. Washing windows/car/platforms using one hand

3. Cross crawls - touching hand to opposite foot or knee

4. The lazy 8 - drawing a large horizontal 8

5. Reaching out for toys by crawling

6. Playing a sport

7. Back to back passing with a large ball

8. Reach out for objects using the non-dominant hand

9. Object relays

10. Obstacle courses and jungle gyms

What type of therapy is recommended for crossing body’s mid-line difficulties?

If your child has difficulties crossing the body mid-line, it is recommended they consult an Occupational Therapist.

It is essential for parents to monitor the early development of their kids to help them develop a hand dominance. This skill will also be essential to prepare a child for the transition into an academic environment where many pencil skills and fine motor tasks are expected (which require effective crossing of the body mid-line).

You must understand that a child's bad handwriting or poor reading skills might NOT be because she/he is a bad student or inattentive in class. Sometimes, effective motor skills take time to develop and some children need extra help with that in terms of targeted activities and motor skill practice.

Make sure you try to understand the root cause of uncommon behavior, and seek therapy or advice to move forward in a direction that'll be most helpful for your child!