Handwriting

[RPhillips]

My daughter is age 8 (nearly 9). She has never held her pencil "correctly" despite me going to great lengths to try all the tricks in the book.

Her handwriting is very poor when she holds the pencil "correctly" and also when I let her hold it how she want to.
I have been correcting her for so long... when or if should I give up?
Any advice? Does anyone know of any research that has been done on it?
Thanks in advance
Rebecca

Don't know the research but I use paper with guidelines (4 lines) when helping children with hand-writing as it helps them learn where letters should be in relation to each other, height wise/posititioning . Have her write as slowly as she needs to start with, but neatly, the speed will come with time.

As somebody who was nagged throughout my primary years for holding the pen wrong, stop pushing that. It's not going to change now. What have school suggested? I agree with previous post re accuracy versus speed. Slow and neat is better.

Thank you. I will try that. Do you think I should now let her hold her pencil/pen how she feels it is most comfortable - even if unconventional?

I don't know what teachers advise but as somebody who held their pen 'wrong' I would definitely say that something that feels uncomfortable is unsustainable and how you write has to be sustainable, even if it's messy. So yes I would let her hold it as she feels right. By the way does she use her knife and fork the right way round? I never have and whilst I can drive superbly now , it took me a while to master the whole feet/hand coordination thing. I think all these things are connected and I can see exactly how I want to draw something but I can't master my hand to deliver it.

Let her hold her pen how it's most comfortable for her.
Can you self-refer to a paediatric Occupational Therapist? they can identify problems like hypermobile joints which may be a contributory factor. Also look up Dysgraphia e.g. www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/understanding-dysgraphia#item0

My DD has hypermobile wrists and the oddest pencil grip but her writing has come on in leaps and bounds since we started using these books. It helps her to relearn pencil placement so her writing has improved despite her nearly fist grip.

Thank you all very much. I will find out more about all these things. I really appreciate the impartial advice, Thanks

How bad is her handwriting? I am a secondary school teacher as I often get yr 7 parents concerned about handwriting but as long as it is legiable and she can write at a reasonable speed it is fine.

What is her natural grip and where does she 'pivot' from (i.e. shoulder, elbow, wrist or fingers)

I've worried for a few years about my 8 year old dd's handwriting and pencil grip. But then I started watching the adults I know writing and many of them don't hold a pen in the conventional way despite being successful, happy, competent people so I've stopped nagging quite so much!

The insistence on teaching cursive handwriting is counter productive for neat handwriting.

That aside, I cannot (and never have) been able to hold my pen the "proper" way. If I do it hurts like hell. My handwriting is much neater if I hold it my way.

DS1 (13) has always had very poor handwriting. I was always nagging him about it and we did endless writing programmes to help it, none of which worked. It started to affect his self esteem at school, so we had him assessed by an OT and he is dyspraxic/having DCD. He is a highly intelligent kid and that masked the writing issue for quite a number of years. DS2 (7) also has poor handwriting which again is out of alignment with the rest of his attainment. He has also been assessed and is dyspraxic too.

Things like not being able to catch balls, not tie shoelaces and being unable to use knives and forks are dyspraxia indicators. It might be worth getting an OT assessment.

Thank you all for your messages. they have helped. Lots to think about.