9yo handwriting question

[treadheavily]

I am hoping a primary teacher may be able to help me on this one.

DD is 9, her handwriting is neat but she writes in quite a strange way, that is, she doesn't use a tripod grip but an awkward-looking grasp. Also the way she forms letters and numbers is strange, often starting at the bottom.

I didn't pay much attention to this earlier because it's only during the past 2yrs and working in education that I even became aware of the tripod grip etc.

Should I be trying to help her learn to write properly or does it not matter?

And I am also wondering about my son, he will go to the same school she attends so possibly won't be shown how to write properly either.

Any advice appreciated.

You say she has neat writing. Assuming she can write at a reasonable pace too, then there is nothing here to worry about.

Her style has served her well up to now.

I am tempted to add, "don't go looking for problems where none exist", but I wouldn't be so rude

my daughter is 7 and top in her class for writing. She also holds the pen in a weird way, not froggie fingers as our school call it. she has beautiful handwriting. answer to your question. i dont think it matters!

Also tempted to say if it's neat and not-too-slow then leave it. She'll modify grip if / as she needs to as she gets older. if OTOH her hand is hurting and it's causing her a difficulty then discuss it.
Another thought if you're that bothered, get a stabilo pen, for right or left hand as appropriate. Encourages better grip because the pen is a moulded shape. Aimed at dyslexic chn with poor writing. But tbh, I think there's absolutely no need.

Well I spoke to her teacher this morning and she too had noticed her unusual style. She is going to arrange some extra tuition and also some cards for her to work on at home. She says it is important to get it right and that she has 2 others in the class who have come through the school system and missed the basic handwriting technique.

This may help someone else in similar situation :)

There are two important things to consider
Does your daughter's grip cause her pain?
Is it effective - is her handwriting clear and quick?

If the answer to both is yes - the grip isn't a problem but if the answer is no to both/either is no then you need to look at ways to support her.

Yes, the problem with an awkward grip could be that it would cause her pain if she wrote pages and pages.

Something she won't be doing at 9......

Thanks for those thoughts, appreciated.
She writes all the time - lists, poems, stories etc. Handwriting is very neat, like a machine print out, but to me she seems slow. She has struggled with perfectionism but is gradually shaking this off. I don't know that it's painful but she does start and stop, start and stop, rub out, do again etc.

The starting and stopping may be in indication of a physical problem (or it may not).

You might like to look at doing Speed Up with her.

It's a handwriting program developed by an occupational therapist. It doesn't teach letter formation or pencil grip, but more basic stuff like finger movement and shoulder movement.

Contains exercises like drawing waves with your left and right hand simultaneously.

Don't forget to ask her if it hurts :)

Thanks IndigoBell, I will - much appreciated :)