Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Question for teachers regarding left handed children writing with pens.

117 replies

Myliferocks · 12/03/2013 11:15

My DS is 8, in yr 3 and left handed
He was recently given a handwriting pen by his school to use as his handwriting is now considered 'good' enough to write in pen. He came home really excited and couldn't wait to use it the next day.
When he came home the next day he said it was difficult to use and he kept smudging his writing with his left hand as he was writing.
I suggested he spoke to his teacher the next day to see if she had any suggestions to help him not smudge his work as I was sure she has taught left handed children before.
He came home after having spoken to her with the result being that she couldn't help him therefore she said he had to go back to writing in pencil.

Do any of you teachers out there have any tips for helping a left handed child write without smudging as his teacher didn't have any?

OP posts:
storynanny · 12/03/2013 22:15

By the way, in my experience, most left handers have beautiful handwriting- eventually that is, it often takes a while for them to develop a style that they find comfortable for writing at length.
As previous poster rightly pointed out, left handers do not always use the taught method, they tend to adapt to their preferred version. Whatever they find most comfortable is best.

UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:17

also, I always prided myself in writing neater in fountain pen than biro.

UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:18

exotic my favourite shop! Grin

Talkinpeace · 12/03/2013 22:18

storynanny
DH is left handed : his writing is DIRE, as was my LH maternal grandfather and my LH dad
but LH Mum and Paternal grandmother and I have good writing

RH DD has lovely writing. RH DS has dire!

LizzieVereker · 12/03/2013 22:21

I am a Literacy Coordinator.

Speaking on behalf of my people, I would like to say that maintaining students' interest and confidence in writing is much more important that flipping handwriting pens. So your DS should be allowed to use whichever pen he feels most comfortable with. I am also an A Level examiner, and if we can read it we mark it; this fuss about cursive handwriting and using ink pens drives me nuts.

And if your Literacy Coordinator does not agree, I am willing (on your behalf) to challenge them to the traditional combat of Literacy Coordinators - a split digraph death match at dawn.

UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:22

I wonder if lefties could take a photo of how they hold the pen and paper and post it - it might help.

Talkinpeace · 12/03/2013 22:23

this is how I hold a pen
www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/stabilo_s_move.html
my DAd is number 2
www.nibs.com/Left-hand%20writers.htm

2kidsintow · 12/03/2013 22:26

All people should tilt the paper to suit their dominant hand. A lot of right handers do it and aren't aware of it.
A right hander should tilt the paper so it is in line with the hand they write with (the edge of the paper should follow the same line that their arm does when it rests on the desk), they should have a straight wrist and their hand should be underneath the writing.

It is exactly the same for a left hander. Paper in line with their arm, straight wrist, hand beneath the line they write on.

www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/acatalog/left_write_mat.html is a handwriting guide that has helped a lot of my children in the past.

2kidsintow · 12/03/2013 22:27

Sorry.

www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/acatalog/left_write_mat.html is a handwriting guide that has helped a lot of my children in the past.

Original poster
Myliferocks · 12/03/2013 22:28

Thank you for your kind offer LizzieVereker Grin

We completely agree about the interest and confidence. He was so excited when he came out of school telling me about his handwriting pen. Fast forward 24 hours and all the enthusiasm had disappeared all because of a bloody pen!

DD1 is going to spend a little time with him at the weekend to show him that it is possible to write holding a pen a different way and to see if the can find a way that he feels comfortable with.

OP posts:
fossil971 · 12/03/2013 22:30

The Stabilo pens are really nice to write with - I bought one for each DC (one of each hand) and keep pinching the RH one for myself. they do not seem especially smudgy.

At least DS has the confidence now to always ask for LH scissors. But he is also eight and I don't think school really helped him develop his writing - it is so slow it holds him back in his other work.

would this be any help?

storynanny · 12/03/2013 22:34

In the nibs link I'm no 5, that's how my style has evolved so presumably thats howI've taught that angle to left handers over the years as there was no training for us during our teacher training in the 1970s. However, much more recently, during inset for handwriting that style was being championed by the specialist advisory teacher. Certainly we have been encouraged always to try and prevent the hook and any angles that mean the writing is obscured.

Original poster
Myliferocks · 12/03/2013 22:38

Thank you for all the links.
I didn't realise there are so many ways to hold a pen!
I think DD is a number 5 in the nibs link.

OP posts:
steppemum · 12/03/2013 22:40

I remember a left handed girl I taught with beautiful handwriting who got very distressed when we switched to pens, as she kept smudging.

I went out to shops and bought a dozen different types of pen. We had a week of experimentation until she found a pen that worked, she could write and not smudge. Her handwriting stayed lovely even with the 'wrong' pen. But experimenting together made her feel valued and as if a good solution was possible.

UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:40

number 5 is the most desirable.

my mum and dad are both lefthanded. we all write the same way. :)

storynanny · 12/03/2013 22:41

Fossil, that's really good. I often give the left handers a bit of blutack to keep their paper in a particular position. My,ice rocks, good idea to experiment with the comfy position, maybe he could use the blutac idea when he has found the best position?

storynanny · 12/03/2013 22:42

Not myicerocks! Myliferocks I meant, it's the iPad!

UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:43

oooh, nonononononono.
when I write, I move the paper up away from me as I write towards the right of the page. otherwise I feelas if I am cramped against my body and I'm straining my wrist to push the writing.

Original poster
Myliferocks · 12/03/2013 22:45

I think my main priority is to sort out the issue at school with him only being allowed to use a handwriting pen.
Then between the two of us weneed to find him a pen that he feels comfy using and sort the way he holds the pen if need be.
I'm determined that he will be able to write using a pen in school without smudging.

Once again a big thank you to everybody on this thread for all your help.
I'm going to start making those waves!

OP posts:
Original poster
Myliferocks · 12/03/2013 22:47

storynanny My iPad knows better than I do when it comes to spelling as well! Grin

OP posts:
UniqueAndAmazing · 12/03/2013 22:55

yes. I think if he's comfy the way heholds the pen, itwillbe easier tofind a pen he can use (rather than the other way round, which seems to be what they're trying to do now - they could make writjng difficult and even painful their way)

olibeansmummy · 12/03/2013 23:02

I also have my paper at 90 degrees and write down the page, but I'm not sure that's the best advice, keep practising with different pens and when you find the best, take it in to show the teacher.

prettybird · 13/03/2013 15:26

Is your ds a "hook handed" left hander? ie is his pen in alignment with a his forearm or his a "breaking his wrist" and/or his pen is pointing away from his body?

This is not "bad technique" but a function of which eye is dominant, so that they can see what they are writing.

I am a hook hander (but all I do is point my pen away from me, rather then bend my wrist) and I am right eyed dominant, even though I am left handed. Dh is left handed and left eyed, and writes with a straight wrist and can't use fountain pens.

My mum was left handed, right eyed but coped by twisting the paper so it was practically at right angles to her. Iirc, she also twisted her pen/pencil slightly, so that it was pointing away from her (but not as much as me).

Interestingly, even though dh and I are both left-handed, ds is right-handed Confused

Original poster
Myliferocks · 13/03/2013 15:55

Quick update!

Tried to speak to DS's teacher today after to school to see how she got on speaking to the relevant people. She wasn't there as she was planning and she isn't in tomorrow either so I'll try and speak to her on Friday.
In the meantime while we were walking home DS told me that his teacher has given him a different pen to use and he doesn't smudge using this one.
He had a great big grin on his face as he was telling me!
I'm still going to speak to his teacher on Friday to see whether she did it herself or whether the Literacy Coordinator 'sanctioned' it.
According to DS he is one of three left handed children in his class but the other two haven't been given handwriting pens yet so it hasn't been an issue for them yet if at all.

OP posts: