regarding pencil grippers - should we use at home?

[treedelivery]

When I spent a morning at school with my child I noticed she has been given a pencil gripper - as have lots of the children.

Should I get one for home too? We do (a bit) of work on handwriting and general numeracy/literacy. Mainly to address some areas she is patchy in and also to get her in the habit of doing a little most days.

I don't know why she has one - all I know is her writing has never been and is not great. We have spoken to school about it and they said she certainly didn't need a special handwriting programme or anything. SHe tells me they said that some of the children would need some help with their writing as theirs wasn't so great.

Oh, also she has been seen by an Ed Psych off our own back, as we were worried about her progress, anxiety and general feelings towards school. SHe is 97th centile for ability (that Weicher scale thingie, aplogies for spelling) and about average for actual attainment. Just thought I'd say in case it is significant and didn't want to post by stealth!

So what do you think?

I'd get her grips for home. They're very cheap, are presumably helping at school, so why not?

Pencil grips can make a big difference.

The advice we were given is use them every single time they pick up a pencil/pen and any problems will sort themselves out much quicker. They are pretty cheap so we just have a stash at home to slip on.

yes, we use them at home. You can buy them in Amazon for jus a few pounds.

I personally don't rate those rubber things(too bulky).I got the Penagain pronged thing from Amazon that was fab and sent one into school.Ds is a left hander in Y3 and has a perfect grip now.We used it at home too. Having said all that you may want to check with school as they may have a preference and you don't want to be using different things.

My boys have both found these Stablilo Easygraph pencils really good.

Before that they had Faber Castell Jumbo and the normal sized Faber Castell ones which both worked well for them too, but didn't actually remind them of the grip, iyswim.

We've been through most of the pencil grips over the years, but they couldn't get on with any of them really.

They told me the same about ds1's handwriting when he was around the same age as your dd. Several years down the line and he has just been allocated a laptop via his statement, as it never did improve, despite lots of help both at home and school. I'm not saying your dd's problems are anywhere near as bad, just that it's worth raising your concerns again if you feel she still isn't improving.

Handwriting problems can be down to a combination of different things really, vision, seating position, arm strength, shoulder and hand tension etc. So it might be worth checking how she is sitting, are her arm and shoulder relaxed, is she gripping the pencil too tightly etc, as all those things can have an impact.

There's more advice about posture etc here and some ideas for building up posture and strength here.

In ds's case, his handwriting was definitely holding him back. This year's teacher says she always wants to just unplug her laptop and give it to him, as she knows he'd be able to get on and produce a really good piece of work if she could. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the laptop in his statement - I was so sure he wouldn't get one.

My DS2 made enormous progress with the Stabilo easygraph pencils. We got him a set of the colours too - lovely quality and they've really got him holding the pencil beautifully. Couldn't recommend them enough.

Thanks everyone

I'll get one/some. I wonder why school haven't said to get one? That is why I doubted if we should get them - in case I was making a big deal out of it. I should ask their opinion. If I'm honest I'd like to have been told dc was using one.

Were you all told? Or am I being overly nosy/controlling??

I only found out the school had tried pencil grips in the infants when we were applying for his statement this year and had to come up with evidence of interventions!

Oops!

My son had a problem that he had the proper tripod type grip but kept getting his hand far too close to the end. The OT gave us these which have really helped.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CROSSOVER-PENCIL-GRIP-x3-handwriting-finger-grip-/300628526998?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PensPencils_WritingEquipment_SM&var=&hash=item8bb4772886

Thank you

Thatnks for all the links - I'm reading! Hopefully her gymnastics and ballet and swimming are all working towards core and limb strength and helping her out.

I'll ask school which ones they are using - I guess it would be best to use the same so as not to confuse her.

No we weren't told,I think schools are overwhelmed with it as a problem. Basically if they leave rec with the wrong grip it makes correcting it difficult.I t's odd because when I was teaching we were very thorough re pencil grip,doesn't seem to be the case now.

Re the Penagain Twist and Write what I found good was it was impossible to hold the pencil incorrectly with it and gave a really good relaxed grip.It was a teaching aid if anything too. They have rubbers on,and when blunt you just twist,funky colours.

My ds loved them,when dd slips(y2)I get them out again to remind her. Also now I can just say hold your pencil properly and she will self correct.I found a lot of the other grips waaaaay too bulky and the fingers other than the pinching fingers just didn't seem to be catered for.

The Penagain seemed to train the whole hand.

To be honest it's probably trial and error.I tried loads and this was the best for us.I think a lot of grips are cheap,mass produced,often slide up and down pencils,not that great for little hands,kind of off putting.I found with the Penagain you just pick it up,position the fingers.No fuss,no bulk.I suspect they're too expensive for schools.

Cool - will look that one up too MrsHeffley.

Good to know not telling parents is the norm - well, no, that isn't good and we should know, but good to know our school isn't unusual.....Oh you know what I mean!

www.amazon.co.uk/Stabilo-EASYcolors-12-Colouring-Right-Handers/dp/B002SN9R1U/ref=sr_1_3?s=officeproduct&ie=UTF8&qid=1333697628&sr=1-3 the colours

Lovely, thanks for all the links.

I have ordered the penagain to try, mainly because I find writing uncomfortable to and i have to do loads and loads at work. So I might get a pen for myself too

Next we'll try the Stabilo one, when I get paid next month. Overdraft is maxed out so that is the end of any treats this month.

Thank you for all the advice. I do wish school had told us, especially as they get homework. I'm afraid I really struggle with not being informed of things, I consider it very much my business. Hey Ho.

Tree I'm the same.

At least we are not alone then [bsmile]. Especially as she is only 7, I still feel very involved. In a few months years when the work gets far beyond me no doubt I'll be delighted to be excluded [bgrin]

Oh [busmile] and [bugrin]