holding pencil correctly while at preschool

[zulubump]

My dd (age 3, will be 4 in Sep) has got fairly good at forming letters and drawing, but has always held her pencil in a fist. She's been going to preschool 3 sessions a week and I know they encourage the children to hold the pencil correctly. Dd is very stubborn and just keeps saying she likes to do it her way. This didn't worry me until recently. I think because she has got quite good control when holding a pencil in a fist I can see that when I do persuade her to hold it correctly she actually finds it much more difficult that way. I've started to worry that the longer this goes on the harder she'll find it to change over. I'm thinking of embarking on some kind of action plan to help her change - eg getting her to write her name or tracing over some shapes a few times each day in return for some kind of reward (probably chocolate!). Does this seem like a good idea?

[meditrina]

Some people can write well even though they hold a pencil in a weird way, but they're very much the minority. The "standard grip" is known as such because it's what maximises the chances of good, fluent writing at a decent speed for the vast majority. It's definitely worth learning properly.

Your DD is at the age where she will be moving from making marks on paper to learning to write properly. It is worth getting her to hold a pencil properly - it only gets harder to change if a bad habit is allowed to become engrained. It'll be hard now, and she may resist, but it'll be many, many times harder if left unchecked.

I suggest you speak to the pre-school, find out what they do, and work with them.

[meditrina]

PS - chocolate bribes are always good IMHO!

[CroissantNeuf]

Up until reception DS used to hold his pencil more like a weapon than a writing implement despite constant guidance. He eventually 'got it' though.

Have you tried the ergonomically designed grips that you can slide onto a pencil as they can help?

[mrsfollowill]

DS did this- once he started in Reception he was given a special 'grip' that went round the pencil. It worked very quickly and he soon held his pencil the 'normal' way. He's 9 now with no problems in that department so try and not worry!

[CroissantNeuf]

these are the ELC grips we had

[zulubump]

Thanks everyone! Mumsnet is so great, 10pm on a saturday and I get all these posts back about my dd's writing! Brilliant. I will definitely get some of those ELC grips, I think dd will love them. I shall continue with the chocolate bribery plan then.

[CroissantNeuf]

and don't panic. I thought DS would never get it, but he did.