Sons hand hurts when writing

[2020hello]

Hi all,

My 6 year old hates writing and whenever we write he says it hurts his hand and his hand aches.

Does anyone know if this is just lack of use and muscle pain or could it be something else?

I need him to start writing it's becoming an issue with school and every parents evening were told he doesn't write enough.

I thought maybe more lego and some colouring. It seems when he holds the pencil or pen he squeezes quite tight on the end...

Any advice gratefully received.

TIA

Things like play doh and modelling clay can help strengthen fingers.

You could also try different pencils, maybe slightly wider or with grips etc to encourage him not to tense/grip it too strongly.

Do little and often at home

I used to grip the pencil to hard so naturally my hand hurt. It might be the position he is holding it. I would encourage him with drawing as it will help build strength and his coordination skills

Thank you both, I will look for the grips too, I think I remember when I was at school some people had a triangle thing on the end of their pencils but I never actually knew what they were for...

Could he be hypermobile or lack wrist strength, so putting too much pressure on his grip. Try using a slope (A4 folder with paper inside to support it) and make sure he sits well supported with feet flat on the floor.

Is he hyper mobile? It’s worth checking his hands just in case.

He’s very young and lots of strength building exercises will help.

Have you considered Dyspraxia? My child has this and it’s one of the ways it manifests. She uses a laptop at school now.

At six his muscles just might not be mature enough for doing much writing, this is not unusual. If you google finger gym activities you will find ideas of fun non-writing ways to strengthen these muscles.

After lockdown get a physio or OT assessment to look at muscle strength mobility of joints and some advice
Is he very flexible?

www.hypermobility.org/faqs/what-is-the-beighton-score

www.google.co.uk/search?q=hmsa+beighton+children&prmd=nimv&sxsrf=ALeKk00FV93HUFgvDR3_M3YIVB87XysTTQ:1588090394448&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjI79PewYvpAhW7ZxUIHZHzBAgQ_AUoAnoECA8QAg&biw=412&bih=682&dpr=2.63#imgrc=GKKHtT1D4UpCHM

Last link has images
Dont ignore or dismiss he may really be sore

Could be dyspraxia or maybe just wrong technique being used

My son (also 6) has the same - the occupational therapist suggested putting bubble wrap under his page when writing as to encourage him not to pop the bubbles and therefore not press down as hard

www.sensorydirect.com/pencil-grips-writing-claw-pack-of-5.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwqJ_1BRBZEiwAv73uwEyF0JDxPGe9S50TtziID64sc7GXKQvj_V0dnRmcT8veSho1xWNErxoCa8QQAvD_BwE

These are good as they have actual parts for the fingers to go in.

Do lots of fine motor activities, e.g. Have a bowl of mixed dried pulses and he has to get all the peas out. Use play doh to make sausages and balls (salt dough can be made at home). Draw a swirly line on paper and he traces over it. Colouring in without going ovputside thelines.
Twinkl have lots of fine motor activities available.
www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-l-141-line-handwriting-worksheets

DD has this problem - turned out she has hypermobility issues. She has Theraputty, but is moving to touch-typing instead of writing (severely dyslexic as well so not a problem for school, exams etc)

There are lots of devices for pen grip available on Amazon or from the specialist sites (the dyslexia ones have them) so worth trying some of them.

See if you can get him to hold a small ball in the palm of his hand with the fingers you don't use for writing.
You can get hedgehog pencil grips with what look like "spikes" so they can't grip too hard.

Could be dyspraxia. My son used to have to stop every couple if words to stretch his fingers

Use thera-putty (you can get it off amazon for hand strengthening) and fine motor activities
Do activities to build upper body and shoulder strength as this will help him stabilise his arm and free up hand muscles for writing. Getting him to draw/write on vertical surfaces is good for this as well
Check he isn't holding the pen too tight or pressing to hard
My son uses a stabile easy pen which has a nice grip and is more comfortable.

Triangle grip and fatter pens/pencils. Try to squeeze a lump of wood/plastic to death between your fingers and carve the words into the paper and you're always going to hurt yourself. Relaxing the arm and shoulder, so improving posture, also helps.

If he is very bendy and hurts himself a lot, it's worth getting him checked out for EDS when the NHS is nearer normality.

Watching as DD has this issue, she grips and presses too hard. She does have weak upper body strength so may be connected to that although she’s also sensory seeking.

We are using mechanical pencils at the moment as the tip snaps off if she presses too hard, so I’m hoping she will learn that way. Have also read about putting polystyrene under the page so they will make a hole if pressing too hard (can imagine dd getting really cross if that happens though!)

I will look up the hedgehog grip pens.

There is a website called Tools to Grow that have some nice pencil pressure activity sheets - helps children to think about how hard they are pressing down

Is he holding the pencil too tight? I remember our teacher creeping up behind students and trying to whip the pencil out of your fingers. We had quite a pencil wrestle one day when I wouldn’t let go! She said it hurt your hand if you held it too tight.

Try developing his fine motor skills - big tweezers putting different coloured beads into different coloured bowls, Lego building, hamma beads etc all work really well. Crafty activities help too.

I'm hyper mobile and find writing super painful after a little bit. Wish I knew when I was a kid as I maybe would have got out of writing lines in detention 🙄

Thank you so much for your comments, I did look up dyspraxia last night and have noted that.

I will also check the links now and look at hyper mobile as I'm not sure what that is.

I will also try the slope.

I think it does hurt him even tho he does not want to write, but then I wonder if his fine motor skills are under developed.

The ends if his fingers are white with the pressure so he definitely is pressing too hard but then that could be an under lying issue, I'm off to read all the links now and I will check his hands and report back

Thank you all so much