Pen Grip

[lougle]

DD2 is an August born Year 2.

I've noticed that her pencil grip is wrong. She holds the pencil with the shaft of the pencil resting in the web space of her thumb, with her thumb over her index finger (her index finger curled out of the way) and her middle finger tip pressing with the tip of her thumb.

I spoke to her teacher today, to ask if it was possibly contributing to her fatigue with writing, and she said that if it hasn't been fixed by now, it will be very difficult to fix because it will be habitual.

Is this so?? She's only 6 years old. Is it really too late to fix this?

I was told when my son was in year 6 that it would be too difficult to correct his pencil grip( he still held it like a baby would with his whole hand ). I would of thought it is at least worth a try , than do nothing.

My ds was eventually diagnosed with dcd at aged 11, and because of his grip has to use a laptop for everything.

Have you tried any of the grip moulds that are available , my son found the more larger ones better than the normal small ones.

The teacher mentioned pencil grips as an aside. She has an OT coming in to assess for different reasons so she may look at it when she comes, I guess?

I read somewhere (perhaps on here?) that you can encourage the correct pen grip by getting the child to hold a piece of paper with their pinkie and ring finger against their palm. You then ask them to keep hold of the paper and pick up their pen. Apparently, they will automatically grip it "correctly".

I have absolutely no idea if this works, but thought I'd share anyway. Apologies if irrelevant/useless.

Thanks, Polter, I intend to slip it into conversation. If it's fixed by 7yo, then she's got 7 months to crack it.

gastrognome, DD3's teacher saw that on pinterest, so it's on the 'net somewhere. I just wonder if she needs a more gradual transition - she's prone to anxiety with change.

We've had lots of success changing pencil grip with children who arrived at our school in Y6 so age 11. It's never to late to change but it does require a united approach from school and home.

I'm using the writing claw with a couple of children in my class.

Thank you for that, mrz. I did think it's a little early to be giving such a pessimistic outlook.

I'll look at the writing claw.

That looks perfect, mrz! I think she'd cope far better with something that has a definite 'place' to put each finger - that way there would be no debating whether the fingers should go in one position or another, etc.

I've always had a poor grip but I've managed to improve mine (at age 35) with a stabilo easy pen.

Just popping in to say my pen grip is still not standard (I'm 33) and I was fine doing 4 hour exams, writing notes etc. at university. Sometimes the web of my thumb got a little tired but that was it.

Sure it can fixed but if not it is not the end of the world. And I have been told I have nice handwriting

Sorry, ignore me, I've just seen that the pen is from age 12 - it might give you more hope that it's not too late though.

That claw looks brilliant - do you have more success with those than the rubber triangular grips that slip over the pen, Mrz?

Dd2 has problems with her grip, I think that she mght have some hyper mobility in her fingers.

Thanks oddboots - she has to use pencil at school, but maybe when she's older

AndIFeedEmGunpowder, if it was just a non-standard pengrip I wouldn't worry so much, but she has a few things stacking up against her, so I figure that if one of them is relatively able to be 'fixed' it might lessen the effect of the others.

DD had a terrible pen grip at that age. Now age 8 she holds her pen properly and got her pen licence before many in her class, despite her Dyspraxia diagnosis.

She had a combination of OT and SEN tutor input which helped, but various products helped too.

This pen was brilliant for her and comes in various girls colours

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0028OAILC/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=officeproduct

It helped her learn to use the tripod grip rather than her fist, or with the thumb wrapped over as it sounds your DD may be doing.

We also used this

www.amazon.co.uk/HandiThings-Handiwriter-Writing-Aid-Yellow/dp/B00BEUCXU0/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389640797&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=dolphin+pen+grip+support

to get DD to put the pen in her web space rather than hold it upright.

Could you ask for some OT input too? If school would support your request that would help I would think.

You see, poltergoose, I'm thinking that I don't want to interfere until I know if why DD2 holds it as she does. Because, knowing DD2, if we say 'do this' then an OT says 'no, do this', DD2 will just go into a spin.

But it's great to be able to see what's out there.

Sure. Hope it gets fixed

We work with OTs for children with difficulty but they normally have at least 10 sessions with the OT and daily exercise at school and home.

That's helpful to know, mrz.

Thank you, AndIfeed...

It's difficult to know what to focus on - her other issues are more pressing in terms of her future, but at the moment she's clearly struggling to perform in school to a level that matches her ability, and as so much of a child's ability is judged on the work they produce, an ineffective pen grip won't help.

dd2 has corrected her pen grip within a week thanks to a great teacher and some grips. She is yr 4 - but she is v determined when she wants to be - managed to stop thumb sucking overnight etc.

Interesting to hear that people recommend waiting for OT assessment before using grips. Just starting down this route with ds who has hypermobile thumb and finger joints. Will hold fire on the bulk thumbgrip orders! He seems to have a tripod grip but his thumb and fingers go in instead of out.

OddBoots - Stabilo do pencils with the same grip on, we have one for DD and DS1, in bright pink and blue, respectively :o

Available here.

DD (6) holds hers like that too OP. Hypermobility and low tone is the cause. We had OT assessment and they have a myriad of grips to try (none of which worked for DD sadly). We've had some success with the Stabilo but again, a fixed grip actually causes her pen grip to weaken as she just doesn't have the strength in those muscles.

Interesting to hear that your OT works with children for 10 weeks MRZ - we had the one assessment then signed off with no real 'solution' found