5 year old can't/won't hold a pen/ pencil

[MerryMarigold]

Is this very unusual. It seems like nearly all the boys in his class can do this, and about half are writing easily (they do seem to be quite 'advanced' as a group though).

I keep correcting his pencil hold (so he doesn't just grip it in his fist), but he doesn't seem to get it...

I haven't gone on and on about it and never forced it before now (actually he used to hold correctly when he was younger, I don't know when it changed). And he does seem to still enjoy practising writing and not kick off about it. I just wondered how long this takes or if there are any 'exercises' I can practise with him.

Has his teacher not mentioned it? Have yo heard of the grips you can buy? They're little rubber things which slip ver the pencil and help them to hold it correctly

Have a word with his teacher and she should have advice. I don't think it's unusual but usually a teacher would give advice I think at this age. He must be in year one yes?

Sorry I can't help but did want to say, two of mine have unusual pencil grips (obviously not in the fist) have nice handwriting. I would keep going on about it and asking the teacher for advice, but if he can eventually write nicely with an unorthodox grip, don't worry him about it.

Haveyou tried getting your dh to have a couple of sessions with him while you are not on the scene?

His teacher should really be encouraging him to learn correct pencil grip. He's lucky he's got a caring mum to help. There are special grips you can buy to put on pencils to help little fingers grip a pencil more easily - usually found on websites selling educational materials.

Thanks so much for info, I'll be off to search for the grips! Shanahan, he is in Reception. His teacher mentioned writing is really hard for him so we are doing it at home, but she didn't seem to go on about it. I think she was more worried about focus in large groups. We are quite an unstructured household (I have 2 yr old twins too) so I think he's finding the adjustment to 'school' a bit challenging. Luckily they don't push them too hard in Reception at our school. I just really want to help him as he is bright and I think I have let him down a bit by not doing more things before which would help his writing/ fine motor.

here you go

Just a random thought - has he tried eating with chopsticks? Might make it really exciting and special for him (esp. if in restaurant, maybe with help from a waiter/ress) and easily transferable to pencils.

There is an old thread here with lots of good ideas from Mrz that can help develop fine motor control.

Any work on developping hand and finger strength and co-ordination will help with his pencil grip.

Good luck.

Thanks so much for links...

Got the grips (a tenner with postage!). Also had an idea to do writing on the fridge with dry wipe markers, make it more fun and Mrz on other thread was v helpful, said better to write vertically...so I'll give it a go. I'm sure writing on the fridge will be a thrill!

Thanks all .