ergonomic pens for handwriting - how useful

[runningoutofnamechanges]

I have bought DS these pens and pencils by Stabilo as I thought they may help his 'scruffy' handwriting.

His handwriting lacks the control, because he previously had an 'unorthodox' pen grip and we are working on the grip so that he no longer uses the 'whole hand' to move the pen - just the pincers.

The grip is now pretty good, but I am curious whether these pens work in strengthening the grip longer term, in themselves, so that he could use 'ordinary pens' ultimately, or do we have to continue to work on strengthening?

I notice that the pencil has a very good grip, but the pen forces the fingers into a slightly different position.

Has anyone had success with these and any feedback?

my DD didn't get on with them, couldn't get comfortable

They don't work for my DD either. Her fingers are just too weak so she's found a way of holding a pencil that just can't adjust to an ergonomic grip. TBH an elastic band around the pencil helps her more than any grip we've tried!

I think if he's now using a more functional grip as a result of the ergonomic pencil this will continue to strengthen. If the Stabilo pen forces him to readjust his grip again it might be worth trying something else. You may have already seen it but MRZ has a good list of fine motor activities that will help with strengthening too.

Yes thank you. Strange that their pencil has a different grip to their pen and therefore forces the hand into a different position.

We're busy with the thera putty exercises (yawn, yawn), but tbh with all the wii and computer games he plays I would have thought his fingers would be rock hard! That is before I even start to think about the hours playing lego and with farm animals etc. Still, I suppose it is about always using the pincers and not letting them flatten.

They didn't work with us either - seems a bit of a marketing gimmick.

So far the best handwriting my DS produces is when he uses one of that retractible pencils. But it's still a work in practice for us.

DS1 has dysgraphia and these pens make a huge difference to him. The writing is as scruffy as ever but his hand hurts less using them, so he writes more and generally he isn't distracted by the pain.

I tried using them though and they are hard work to use if you don't have dysgraphia!

Mmm...I don't have dysgraphia either and the pen was hard work; I just looooved the pencil though!