Drawing/pencil control

[Roo83]

Hiya

My ds is 2.9 and had a developmental check with the hv. All went well and he is above average in a lot of things, but there was a slight concern over his written skills-it was within normal range apparently but she still wants to keep an eye on him. He will hold a pencil/pen but not 'correctly' and will scribble but not really make specific marks (in the assessment he couldn't draw a circle accurately).

I haven't really encouraged too much written stuff as he is an outdoorsy type who prefers other things. If I ask him to come and draw or paint he just says 'no thanks'! So far I haven't pushed it as I thought children should just be children, however, the hv has said she'd like to review his written skills in 4/5mnths time. Any ideas if this is a common problem? Any suggestions of what I can do to help him?

My Ds didn't have any interest in drawing and I was worried when he was about to start school. In his last pre-school report it said that he sometimes holds the pencil in 'dagger' style. He was fine though and his handwriting is quite average in Y1 now. DD held her pencil correctly at about 12 months.

I think they are all different and I can't see what exactly the HV is worried about.

I think you have a perfectly healthy outlook, let the child be a child and enjoy himself. If there were an issue there would be other flags in his development behaviour, it's obviously not something that interests him for now. When he starts reading and writing, it will all come together. He's a bit young to be concerned with holding a pen in the c formation etc! I'd be more concerned if he couldn't identify a circle when he was shown one than whether he can draw one - he obviously isn't that interested yet so is prob not taking his time and doing it as quickly as possible so he can do something more fun

It always amazes me that medical professionals plant the seed of worry if your child isn't quite meeting a fairly arbitrary milestone, yet if the child excels at something they don't exactly heap on the praise or talk about enrichment.

Seems very young to be worrying about such things. My DS started school not holding a pencil correctly. Now aged 9 he has beautiful handwriting and draws and paints really well. Pencils are fiddly things for little hands, so it's not really a good tool to test a childs motor skills in my opinion!

I wouldn't push it too much, but perhaps there are some outdoorsy things he might like, for example making marks in the sand or mud with a stick, chalks on a patio, pavement or wall if that is possible or even just a big paintbrush in water if you'd rather!, making pictures out of leaves, sticks etc on the ground, use a kite to make shapes in the air, making sand castles and other shapes, make paper planes to fly out doors, build a camp out of boxes or sticks and blankets. All these things will help develop his motor skills and the muscles needed for controling pencils as he gets older.

But if he doesn't want to and prefers to just charge madly round like many other small boys then don't worry. There's plenty of time for him to pick up the motor skills later.

My eldest was still not holding a pencil/paintbrush near the nib at 4 years!! He would hold it at the other end and sort of dangle it over the page...

But now at 4.5 he is fine. His younger brother has far better pencil control and mark making.

Sounds a bit young to be up to speed with it IMHO.

Thanks very much,that's really put my mind at rest. Those are great ideas moajab so I'll try and do a few of those types of things when we're out and about and hopefully hv won't say anything negative at the review. He did so well in the other areas it's a shame to feel like he needs 'pushing' into something when he's not even 3! He's starting pre-school after half term so this may help to.

I agree with fracturedrainbow - your HV sounds a bit overly concerned to me. Lots of children and especially outdoorsy boys are less than interested in drawing at that age. My son absolutely wasn't and literally didn't hold a pen until reception!

My dd has fine motor skill problems (her arms shake when she's trying to do something) and at 3 can hold a pen correctly but has no real control over it! Therefore it cannot be said not holding a pen properly in itself is any indicator.

My DS had no interest in drawing. He would get very frustrated and angry and rip the paper.

He started reception in September. During last half term he asked me if I had any felt-tips and paper. I nearly fainted.

He drew me a picture, I nearly cried.

They will do it when they are ready. It's a physical skill that they need to learn but they don't need pens to learn it.

Duplo, play doh, scissors etc will all use his muscles so that he will be able to do it when he wants to.

Really? Pen holding at 2.9 and concerned HV? It was raised at a discussion with DS school when he was 4 in reception and they still said that he had plenty of time and to focus on other ways to develop finemotor skills.

Some HVs really go over the top. I've never heard that one before.

Jeeze !! bloody HV's .... can do more harm than good

The HV with my first DS was quite young and had no children at the time - she was very nice but somehow I didn't quite trust her advice, would have preferred someone who can also talk from experience.

She is talking nonsense. There is no need to be concerned. If your ds is struggling with holding a pencil when he is 4, you can get rubber grips to assist with this, but don't worry about it at all now.

Interesting that there is such variation in the quality of HVs. Mine totally failed to spot any signs of anything amiss with ds at his 2y check. He was diagnosed with ASD when he was 3.5.

Thanks for replies-it's made me feel a lot better. I had visions of him struggling to write for years to come! He's great at making things with duplo,and loves playing with play doh, cooking and other things that use fine motor control so hopefully the writing and drawing will come. Hv was lovely but was covering for someone else so maybe a bit over anxious!