Why an ink pen?

[JordanBaker]

My DS went back to school today and is now in Year 5. At the end of last year he was granted a 'pen licence' which means he must now use an ink pen.

He has tried using one over the holidays and it just doesn't work for him. He is right-handed but writes more like a left-hander, sort of from the top IYKWIM. Consequently the pen either doesn't work at all or is very scratchy.

I think it's too late for him to adjust his writing position (and if it was a problem, surely the school should have corrected it over the past 5 years?) and I don't understand why writing in ink is so important. DD also attended the school and had to use ink in Yrs 5& 6 and also in Y7 when she went to senior school. She's now in Y9 though and can use ballpoint or a fine-liner. So it's not like he'll have to use one forever.

DS is also dyslexic. It's fairly mild but his spelling isn't brilliant and I'd rather he was concentrating on what he is writing, not trying to make the pen work.

I am anticipating a battle with his teacher over this. She's a bit of a stickler (DD had her in Y5) and whilst I don't want to begin the year on a bad note, I do feel pretty strongly about this.

Any thoughts?

at that forum! Thanks though. Makes me think maybe the teacher has come across the overwriting thing before and will have some suggestions.

Think will hold off on the 1940s Schaeffer Triumph or Montblanc for now!!!!

Still don't see why it has to be an ink pen though. Sorry, sounding like a stuck record...

Gah! Can't post fast enough clearly. seeker it really does have to be a fountain pen. Think you're right though, think will just tell them to shove it (and that will hurt, especially with an extra-fine nib) in the nicest possible way

LRD ink pen issue aside, do you know how we would go about correcting the overwriting? Am assuming it's not as simple as 'DS! Write properly FGS' although have been known to try that approach in the past. Am about to google, but thought you may have some ideas?

TIA

One of my DC is a lefty and school insists on fountain pen. I found Pelikano 2010 range to be the best.

DS did it, he had OT and handwriting programmes at school though - and pencil grips.

The stabilo one I linked to is almost the same shape as the grips he used, that's why I bought them...it has grooves for your fingers to fit in so it encourages a better grip.

Jordan - do you have a good dyslexia helpline in your area? If so, they'd be the best people to recommend a tutor. If you could afford it, I reckon that would work best - but obviously it's a matter of balancing how severe you think the problem is (by the sound, maybe it isn't really), and how expensive/time-consuming it'd be.

Other than that, I'm really sorry, I don't have books to recommend or anything like that. I just know it is very possible to train handwriting late on, because my brother and both cousins had remedial lessons at secondary school (dyslexic/dyspraxic types), and because it's something you can get DSA funding for as an adult at university. I just really wanted to say, don't feel that because he's in yr 5, he's stuck writing the way he does now.

I'm so sorry I can't be more help.

The OT and handwriting weren't just for a bad pencil grip, rofl, he has more serious things than that wrong with his handwriting...I was just telling you why I'd said about that pen

Jordan have you considered a Pelikan Griffix Learnwriter Fountain Pen you can get them on amazon and they are a fountain pen versions of stabilo someone linked to earlier. Our school gives pen licences out then you move onto the stabilo linked earlier and then after 2 years with that you get a fountain pen licence and not all do get that before they move to senior school. My DD just got her fountain pen licence (had issues having been taught cursive in the US and in the end they finally gave in and decided not to correct her old fashioned cursive) and she used a pelikan for a few weeks before moving to a Lamy and now has a parker.

Thanks very much all. Just got back from celebrating first day of freedom and seen your messages. Will check out all suggestions. Am in two minds about whether to try to correct it (and a bit that school have let it go this long without raising it as an issue-I would have been very happy to help correct it when he first started writing but just didn't realise it could be a problem) but will give it a lot of thought. And speak to his teacher.
After all this, will probably pick DS up later to find teacher has said 'Oh never mind DS. Here, have a Bic)

We had to write in fountain pen in primary school, and to this day it's the only pen I can write anything even approaching legible script with. It is true that it's really hard to write with someone else's fountain pen, though, so if they insist, definitely get him a new one - and take him to a good stationer's who'll let him try some out so he can pick one that's comfortable. I have always favoured fairly heavy, metal fountain pens, I find them easier to hold, but many people prefer lighter, thin ones.

Thanks Naoko. I too was made to write with an ink pen at primary. In fact I seem to remember we had the old fashioned desks with ink-wells in them and we had to suck up the ink with the pen somehow (can't remember mechanism and no, it wasn't a quill). They were awful to write with and used to blot everywhere. I still hate writing in ink to this day!

But I will get him one of his own if they absolutely insist ( that I was so tight that I made him use DDs), probably one of the corrective ones mentioned above.

School took his class to the park today and played football-in his (eyewateringly expensive) school uniform and brand new (eyewateringly expensive because he's got such long thin feet)school shoes.

Happy days

Sorry about the bump, but I'm just encountering this now with my DD in Y6. The school is insisting on ink pens (not cartridge pens I don't think, but ink all the same). DD is a lefty, and using an ink pen means she comes home every day with a blue stain on her hand.

DD did ask why they insisted on ink pens rather than ballpoint, and her teacher said it was because ballpoints were "scratchy and blotchy". Now I find that pretty odd, because if anyone had asked me to describe why fountain pens were a pain in the neck, I would have said it was because they were "scratchy and blotchy", whereas ballpoints aren't.

I should add at this point that we're originally from New Zealand. We have no rules there about ink pens there, and most children use ballpoints once they graduate from pencils. I have not noticed the nation's handwriting to be any worse for it, or at all. The only conclusion I can come to is that it's a cultural prejudice rather than anything based on any kind of evidence.

DD also falls into the "keen to please" group, so I'll probably end up find her a left-handed fountain pen somewhere (thanks for the earlier links!), and put the whole insistence on ink pens thing into the "Weird stuff the English do" basket (don't worry, I know there's plenty of stuff Kiwis do that the English think is weird too).

I find it additionally weird in combination with stories like this. I would have thought that with the national stress about all things education-related, that anything perceived as even potentially risky to GCSE results would have had ink pens thrown out long ago.

(Thanks, rant over!)