To think DD should be able to hold her pen in the way she finds most comfortable?

[bluegreenandgold]

DD (8) holds her pen strangely, she always has.

She has been told to hold it correctly by all her teachers over the years and been given various things to help encourage this but she finds it impossible to maintain holding it in the traditional way so reverts back.

Does it matter? I don't think it does, her writing is neat.

I am dyslexic and have an unusual grip apparently. People bang on about this but I can't see it and nor can I see another way to hold my pen or why people can't just bugger off with their views.

I agree with you op. Leave her be.

I used to grip my pen like this. I stopped in Year 10 when exams came and my hand was really sore after writing essays. I spent the summer holidays copying out from books to practice writing with the "correct" grip for year 11.

Ovo that is not "wrong" that is "inverted" which is another version of "right" - perfectly acceptable variant of normal. It shouldn't cause any problems at all

OVo I hold my pen like that! I'm 40 something and have had always worked in writing-related fields. I think it's like a leftie, but in the right hand. We have lots of lefties in our family, and one DC is too.

I used to get told to hold a pen 'correctly' at primary school by very traditional headmaster, but to no avail. The only issue is causes is that I smudge ink if it's not properly dry, so I tend to use ballpoints.

I'm sure she will be fine. I hold a pen between my index and ring finger then screw my hand up in a fist. I have neater writing than everyone at work who hold it correctly. I never stood a chance though, both my mom and reception class teacher held a pen wrong too!

I hold my pen wrong - despite intervention from yr 2-6. Never given me any problems

Ds holds his pen wrong too- they tried to correct it on yr 3 at primary and by yr 4 teachers said to leave him be, there is no point in making an issue of it as he is unlikely to be able to do it. I recall them saying it was something to do with the length of a tendon in a finger/thumb or something, when I showed them how I held a pen they said it was likely he had inherited off me........ we both hold a pen very similar.

Dd (3) is a leftie - god knows what will happen with her !

Ds recently saw a rheumatologist who looked at his all his muscle groups including his pencil grip - which is non standard. We were told that the pincer grip is not great for a child with weak hand muscles and that the obsession with it amongst educationalists has actually caused a lot more problems with handwriting - he was told his grip was perfect but it wasn't pincer!

My teachers kept trying to make me hold my pen 'correctly' with a triangle, which after struggling for several weeks with, I just moved up the pen until it was out the way. I have super crazy hitchhikers thumbs which makes it difficult to hold correctly. My handwriting is great, but it was really distracting for me in class to be disturbed by something that wasn't going to change.

I hold my pen funny always have, managed a levels, good degree and professional qualifications. But I have a dent in my finger Bone which may well confirmed a future archaeologist

I am a lefty and hold my pen "wrong." I am a slow,quite messy writer because of it. It really held me back taking notes in class and especially when it came to exam time. I probably got down half to two thirds of what everyone else managed with essay type questions which I found so frustrating. I always got much higher marks in my coursework than my exams. It's probably the main reason I went into sciences rather than arts as the exams are less about writing.
When I look back it makes me really angry that no one tried to help me improve my writing in my early years and that I never got extra time in exams when loads of my friends who go diagnosed with even the mildest forms of dyslexia where given extra time. Unfortunately being a slow writer doesn't tick one of the boxes.

It depends how likely it is to cause an issue with fluency later.

E.g. I've had to do speed writing intervention with gcse students who've had beautiful writing and we're more than capable but they couldn't churn out the pages of material required in an exam because their writing wasn't fluent. They ended up with aching wrists etc too.

Sorting it earlier is now my main focus so if I see any of my ks3 students gripping tightly or holding oddly I aim to support and guide.

I am left handed and hold my pen wrong. I get frequent comments "OMG you write upside down!". I don't remember anyone trying to get me to hold a pen differently though. Maybe they thought I was a lost cause.

I hold my pen "wrong". A certain teacher of mine in year 5 made it clear to me that she felt it was wrong and I should try to hold it "right". Didn't work, and I now just remember her as a right witch for it. Now people occasionally make comments, but I don't care & I've got really neat handwriting! Not everyone has to be the same.

My Gran went through life holding her pen in a way that to everyone else looked very hamfisted - the pen was between index finger and middle finger right up where they join and her hand curled over at the wrist - and managed to write very neatly though she couldn't make her letters very small.

I hold it wrong too . I'd say it doesn't hurt to try and grip it correctly. I'd encourage her to persevere.

Do people who hold their pen the 'wrong' way also hold their knife the wrong way?

OP DD (9) holds her pen in a really similar way to your DD. It became clear why when she was diagnosed with hypermobility. Her consultant was insistent that she should hold a pen anyway she feels comfortable, but that she needs to make sure her hand muscles are as strong as possible. She does physio with squeezy balls. So far so good.

Incidentally, there are a lot of sports people (particularly tennis players) who are hypermobile and if you look at photos of them signing autographs a lot hold their pens weirdly.

I don't know. I hold my pen wrongly and I think it affects my handwriting, which is invariably terrible. Though from this thread perhaps that isn't the case.

I noticed that DS holds his the same way, always has done. He's also now 8. I was hoping that his teachers would correct it when he started school last year but they haven't seemed to so when he complained recently that his handwriting is poor I explained about the pen position. He can't change it now either. I do think that if he was prepared to put up with his writing being even messier and his hand aching a little for a short time, he could probably correct his pencil grip if he worked it out now, and in the long run it would be better, but he doesn't really care about it enough to bother, and I'm not going to ask his teacher to stand over him and check.

@Scrumpernickel I hold my knife correctly but pen "wrong"

I hold my pen correctly and always have. My handwriting is awful!

My DD holds her pen very oddly too. She was taught 'froggy grip' but it never worked for her. She is nearly 18 now, so it's set in stone. She can write quickly and legibly, aced her GCSE's last year and is set for similar at A level - nobody cared how she held her pen.

OP if it helps I've always been told that I hold my pen in a weird manner and my teachers tried to correct this. Whenever I tried to correct my pen grip when younger it always hurt my hand, so eventually my parents allowed me to do it how I felt comfortable and it has not held me back in the slightest.

I am now in the middle of completing an essay heavy Politics degree, on track for a First and often find myself finishing essay exams with time left to spare and little hand pain. I never had any issues during GCSE or A-levels either.

I used to do this and my mum (a teacher) made me hold it the right way. It hurt loads less but still hurts to write as I broke my arm at 7. It does matter, ergonomically.