My son has terrible handwriting and finds it painful to use a pencil.
I have found an alternative and it is make a real difference to his writing.
www.cultpens.com/acatalog/Stabilo_S_Move_Easy.html
You can get the pens from WHSmith at a cheaper price, but I wanted to show you a picture.
I think that schools sometimes mess up children's pencil grips by forcing them to use pencils before they are read. The nice thing about this pen its that its impossible to use it with a bad pencil grip.