Are left handed pencils actually useful?

[TormundGiantsbabe]

Being left handed myself I'm keen to help ds in any way to make writing easier for him. He currently hates writing with a passion. He is expected to write with lead ins and outs but refuses to, I'm lucky if I can persuade him to write anything at all!

His grip seems fine (he certainly doesn't hold his hand in the wonky position I do myself) and he has never complained about holding the pencil being difficult, but I have been wondering if these left handed pencils might make a difference for him.

Or are they a money making con? Does anyone have any experiences or recommendations?

[Boogers]

Are you taking the piss? Or did you actually think these were real after the April's Fool joke?

[situatedknowledge]

DD found left handed pencil grips useful for a while when she was quite small. She's 12 now, and writes beautifully with a 'normal' pen.

[snowgirl1]

Er, Boogers, they are real

[meatloaf]

I bought these ones for my DD www.amazon.co.uk/STABILO-EASYgraph-left-handers-pack-Ergonomic/dp/B002SN9R24?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Save your money. Made no difference. And a pain to sharpen.

[bluespiral]

What? How can a pencil be left or right handed? It's circular

[Lweji]

I imagine that it may be relevant for fuddy duddy easy grip pencils, but con otherwise.

[Whatthefreakinwhatnow]

I've no experience of the pencils but I love my left handed fountain pen

[elQuintoConyo]

Mine's great. I keep it in a cupboard with my chocolate teapot.

[TormundGiantsbabe]

Yes they are real... it's about helping the child to grip the pencil more comfortably, but at around £5+ for one I'm reluctant to spend the money without doing my research.

[dementedpixie]

My ds only really has left handed scissors and hasn't needed any other things to help.

[tabulahrasa]

Bluespiral - the paper isn't circular though and they're writing with their hand covering what they've just written.

It's not so much that the shape of the pencils is in itself an issue, it's that writing is designed for right handed and having different pencils can compensate a little bit for that.

[PatriciaHolm]

DS had left hand pencils (those stabilo ones) for a bit in yr1/y2 and got on OK with them, I think they definitely helped him get over his initial reluctance to do anything remotely like writing!

[PatriciaHolm]

Actually I might have one around somewhere if you want it!

[blaeberry]

We have tried quite a few grips/pencils etc for my dyspraxic left-handed ds. We have stabilo colours pencils which are triangular with little grooves and do encourage correct grip a bit. He didn't get on with the stabilo left-handed pencil with the seperate leads (neither did I but my right-handed DH likes it!) He ended up with a pencil weight and a grip on a normal pencil at school (and a laptop) and those chunky triangular pencils at home.

Left handed scissors are a must if he uses his left hand to cut. Also remember to rotate the paper when writing so the top left hand and bottom right hand corners are above each other then write from beneath the line. This makes for a better posture, helps him see what he is writing and he is 'pulling' the pencil a bit more like a right-handed person would rather than 'pushing' it.

[CharleyDavidson]

Google the left-write guide.

A left handed child should hold their pencil at a slightly different distance from the lead, should angle their paper to follow their writing line and should endeavour to keep a straight wrist rather than stretching it round to look underneath their hand as they write.

Shaped left handed grips and pens can be useful, but adopting the above habits as early as possible will avoid a lot of problems.

[ShelaghTurner]

I bought dd1 all this stuff when she needed to be kitted out for school and she uses none of it. She seems to be just fine using the same as everyone else. I guess it just depends on the individual.

[womdering]

L handed pencils are generally a waste of time. Other L handed products can be useful (scissors, fountain pens, etc). But not pencils.
Does writing make his hand ache? Wild guess borne out of quite a bit off experience of having taught:
Are you particularly flexible? Your 'wonky' handwriting grip may be a natural adaptation to overcome fatigue or discomfort because of an untecogjised hypermobility/ overextension in your DIP joint. If so, your son may have a similar difficulty and be trying to avoid the task of writing as he's not found an adapted grip that helps him to avoid the discomfort.
The hyper extension may be evident when you gently lift the tip of your straightened index finger.

[wonkylegs]

We found the Stabilo LH grip pen& pencil helpful for establishing DSs grip correctly but once he'd done that he was fine with any pen or pencil. Their main help was that as DH & I are both RH we found it difficult to show him the right way to do it, whereas the pengrip showed him. Then it was just a matter of practice. We also got him a LH handwriting practice book which gives pointers and reminders on technique
and instructions placed so the are not constantly hidden under his hand.
He has got really good handwriting for a 7yo now but most of that is practice

[mummytime]

Left handed ruler scan be helpful too, just a bit easier to use.
£5 instead of the normal cost of a pencil seems a bit much to me. I'm sure the grips are much less.
Scissors are great, but some left handed people use scissors in an odd way so prefer right handed ones (or cut right handed). There is a reason why scissors have a handedness and it's the same reason it's hard to cut the nails on your right hand (the blades are being pulled apart).

[TaIkinPeace]

WTF is a left handed pencil.

Teach your child to write with the paper at an angle and a non hook grip and all will be well
and you'll save a fortune on stupid "products"

left handed wife
of left handed husband
with two left handed parents
and three left handed grand parents
and two right handed children !