Is it all about the grip?

[PotteryLottery]

Y1 DD's writing looks scruffy because her letters are not the same size and over the last year her pencil grip has gone from tripod to using all 4 fingers!

Her dexterity is great otherwise (she can thread a needle), and I have tried pencil grips, special pencils and numerous other tips found by searching MN threads, all to no avail.

She's a high performer in terms of content so it's a shame this lets her down. I've given up saying anything as I don't want to put her off writing all together.

Is it all about the grip or is there anything else I can do to help her get her letters the same size? She does joined up and cursive.

You can get pencils that are a triangle shape rather than circle shape. Perhaps one of those would encourage her back to a tripod grip. There would be no where for the fourth finger to go.

DD1 used to have a similar pencil grip and she also complained that her fingers hurt (I wasn't surprised from watching her write). She now rests the pen on the webbing between forefinger and middle finger (instead of between thumb and forefinger) and holds the end of the pencil in three fingers. The different resting place seems to help her keep the pen steadier, so no longer requiring maximum fingers near the bottom. I hope that makes sense! It has made a massive different to her handwriting and writing stamina.