Y5. Handwriting and pen grip.

[BouncersDream]

DS (9, Y5) has "good, neat" handwriting, according to the school. He got one of the weekly awards for it the other week. It is neat. BUT, he holds his pen incorrectly (using thumb and all four fingers, and writing by moving arm not fingers), and is very slow and deliberate at writing, like it's a real effort. He says he gets an aching arm after long periods of writing, and can't keep up with the teacher or his classmates. He tells the teacher this and she says "OK, take a break". We are concerned that his writing will start to hold him back.

The background is that he's always had trouble with handwriting. and had an OT assessment in about year 2. The school have tried pencil grips, all sorts of dexterity exercises every day, and even physical PE-type exercises before school to build muscle strength, some days a week. But after a couple of years that all mostly stopped, apart from occasionally after a parent-teacher meeting when we ask about it. Since then the teachers have been saying his handwriting is greatly improved, and there's nothing to worry about. BUT, they seem to be missing the fact that writing is a huge effort for him, and often painful. They're concentrating on just the quality of the finished writing, and not the actual act of writing. So we've been just going along with the school, until recently when DS has been mentioning the aches and pains, and the fact that he often doesn't have time to finish his work.

So, now school are promising another OT referral, which could take months, and in the meantime will "see what they can do".

If I try to encourage different pen grips (fingers in a tripod, or variants), at home, DS is very reluctant, as his writing becomes very messy. He's only interested in the quality, as then the teachers will praise him. I've suggested to school that they try to support him having a better, more comfortable grip, even if it means a drop in neatness, and that the neatness will come, but they say the bad grip will now be very ingrained, and seem reluctant to help him change it.

What to do? I 'm worried that soon he will be really held back by his very slow (and painful) writing, especially with SATs next year, and then secondary. Should we just let the school hopefully make progress? What can we do at home to help him?

Many thanks!

Following as my year 5 DD is also the same - strange pen grip, aching wrist and arm after only a few minutes and struggling to keep up. Although her penmanship is excellent, it means she will only write the bare minimum as it hurts her.
We do have an appointment with a paediatric physiotherapist in a few weeks as she also gets aching in her other joints, particularly her ankles.
Tried all of the easygrip pens/pencils, sloped writing surface etc but never made a substantial difference.

It's really hard to change by this age. While I think you should do what you can, I'd also really recommend that he learns to type properly as this will be really useful the older he gets.

@fruitpastille

Yes, the school have suggested the option of a laptop for exams and longer assignments. I'm slightly reluctant as I think he may just see this as fun, and just fall back on it, and the handwriting will never improve.

It's a shame that school have been unsupportive about the correct pencil/pen grip. He should have been taught this properly from year 1 upwards.
All you can do is let him practise at home. It might feel strange to him at first, but should be easier the more he practises. Just a couple of sentences each evening will help.
To continue with the neatness, I would buy proper handwriting exercise books which are ruled for upper and lower case letters.
This is how I taught handwriting when I was teaching. (Retired now).

@Gardenlass That's helpful, thank you.

Is he hypermobile at all?

Lots of this sounds so similar to my DD whose hands are very hypermobile, meaning she can't grip a pen without pain. She presumed her pain was normal & didn't often complain. She did get headaches which she would complain about,but we didn't join the dots & neither did her doctor until later

She had various pen. Grips, but didn't get on with them, had a supportive made to measure glove, but didn't like that either as others noticed it. She did like the stabilo fat shaped pens & pencils for a while as they were less obvious.

By your DSs age though, she used a keyboard. This has been a game changer as her anxiety about keeping up, getting her thoughts on paper without needing to mentally edit it into a short version improved massively

Check out Beighton Score in image search, for a chart you can check him against. If he is hypermobile, then ask fir a referral to see a paediatric rheumatologist. Ideally one who knows about Ehlers Danlos... you can find that out via EDSUK

I'm puzzled by the school referring to an OT, didn't even know they could... you can though, as can your GP & as he's already been seen by them, ringing & asking fir further help should be easy. Ours were great & always got back to us quickly

I agree school are letting him down though

Good luck

Both of mine hold the pen oddly. And yes my y5 writing is slow. But it's actually really hard to stop them as they are doing it at school.

@RockinHorseShit No, not hypermobile. At least not when last seen by OT at about age 6. He did used to shake when concentrating on fine motor skill tasks (e.g. writing, lego), which also provoked the initial OT referral, but that has decreased quite a lot.

@BouncersDream

I'd suggest checking him for yourself as in my previous comment. In our experience not everyone who should, actually understands it. We even had this with a Great Ormond St Physio even though my own DD was officially diagnosed by then

& ask him if his hands or neck hurts if he writes for long... my DD turned out to think it was normal & in her words, she "was just rubbish" it badly affected her confidence

@RockinHorseShit. OK, will do. Thank you.

Another thought if he is hypermobile, or even just his thumb - look up adaptive pen-holds. They aren't the standard tripod grip, but they are ergonomic, and put less pressure on the thumb. I suffered loads of pain at school without realising why, and although it's difficult to change grips in later childhood and beyond, in the end, I was able to change as an adult, and I found it very easy as I must have somehow known that it was better for my hands and arms. The grips are sometimes known as 'monks' grip (as monks who had to write for hours used it), or D'nealean. or adaptive tripod. It puts the pen between the second and middle fingers. It looks weird, and may result in a small loss of neatness at first, but not for long. There are Y-shaped pens ('Penagain' or 'Twist'n'Write pencils) and ring-pens etc that can help encourage this grip at first, but then you can use it with any pen. It relieves the pressure on the thumb (particularly good for those who use a thumb-wrap hold) and thus stops tension in the arms and shoulder from developing as much, and means that it is possible to build up to a good speed (don't expect immediate results).