Pencil grip in a 6.5 yr old - too late to change?

[Buda]

DS is 6.5 and doesn't hold his pencil properly. He is right-handed and holds it sort of with his arm curved around. His writing is bad as a result.

Had parent-teacher meeting this morning with the teacher and although I have spoken to her about this before she hasn't really taken it on board. Her way has been to send home handwriting sheets for him to do but as I pointed out if his grip is wrong anyway it is not helping much.

MIL was a reception teacher for years and has watched him and tried to get him to hold the pencil correctly to no avail. Her theory is that he is double-jointed and when he grips the pencil normally, he can't control it so he holds it in a way that he can contol. But it means the he holds it very tightly and doesn't have that much control.

There is a person a school who works on things like this (not sure what her actual title is here) but apparently she is fully booked up in the school day and we may have to pay privately (we are in Budapest and DS is at a British International school). Am a bit peeved as (1) this should have been picked up a lot earlier and (2) I have been mentioning it since the beginning of the year and (3) we damn well pay enough anyway!

Anyway (sorry this is so long!) - my question is - can it be changed at this stage. And even should we try to change it?

I feel he will never write neatly and easily if it is left and the teacher does agree but is a bit waffly. She has promised to talk to the other lady at school and get back to me.

course it can change, my ds(6) has the same problem, he was referred to occupational therapy who have suggested different ways to help him including one of those slated writing desks, they take less pressure so he finds it easier to write.

Has he been seen by an OT to rule out any difficulties - someone I know has a ds who had difficulties with his joints/muscles which was only recognised 'cos she pushed for it.

hanaflower - we have triangular pencils - doesn't help.

sea and cornsilk - I THINK the lady at school is an OT (am not sure). I also know the SALT well and she is doing other stuff as well as SAL with some of the kids. Will try and talk to her.

yes it can change and has for my ds who's now 8

his problem was he had unstable shoulders and really weak muscles in his arm, wrist and hand so we needed to do lots of exercises with him to build up his strength first

then we did "write from the start" for a few months and he's now (hallelujah) suddenly started writing in legible cursive with a perfect grip - it's still slow, mind, but we're getting there - at his last review the OT said he was like a different child he'd improved so much

sounds very much to me like you'd need to see an OT to get a proper assessment though

Hi mimsum - I have the Write from the Start programme but haven't wanted to start it till we sort the grip as I know he will just do it all with his usual grip.

So I need to push for OT then. Teacher was walking off to find this lady this morning as I was leaving school so fingers crossed she will have something to tell me this afternoon.

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Doodle - thanks for that link - that looks ideal. I have ordered 2 pencils - one for home and one for school and a set of the colouring pencils for him. (A shopping opportunity - who knew?!)

Update:

Teacher spoke to me at pick-up and said she had done some research - YAY! - have only been asking for months! Anyway - she spoke to OT lady who knew what she was talking about and has a great whole programme for this but is unfortunately fully booked till next year!

She then spoke to someone else who gave her some suggestions of things to do in class with DS.

She then got in the SALT (who also does lots of other things) and she came into the class and they got DS to do some writing and he CAN hold the pencil properly - he just chooses not to. As soon as their attnetion was off him he went back to his old ways. I will nab the SALT for a chat (I know her anyway).

But I am hopeful that the Yoro pen will help.

Feeling more positive.

The OT is working with boys in Yr 13 on similar issues! Bloody ridiculous - surely would have been much better for everyone if this had been concentrated on in reception/Yr1? Most of the Yr13s would have been in various other schools throughout the world so the issue is obv widespread.

Buda - I know 2 children in ds2's class who've had OT for just that aged 8/9 - worked fairly quickly. Mostly just practising with special grip/pen.
Arose from their Y1 replacement teacher (covering maternity for 7 mnths) who told us at parents' eve in reply to a q about it, "Oh, I don't pay any attention to how they hold their pencil."
Same one who said, "I don't do feedback on their homework," - in Y1 it's only smiley faces & stickers or at the very least a tick to show "I've checked & it's OK"
at your having OT, SALT at the school. Here parents would rather admit their children had scurvy than that they go to OT or Speech Therapy. I saw the 2 when I took ds1 to OT and they blushed.

finknottle - it is strange how some people struggle to accept anything less than perfection isn't it?

We are lucky in some ways as DS is in a private international school however it can be difficult to find the expertise the school needs here. The "OT" is a lovely lady but I am not sure her title is actually OT iykwim. She is Hungarian and was a gymnast in her youth and is also a physio. But apparently she is fantastic - so much so that she is fully booked and has a waiting list for next year!

The SALT just happens to be here really - her husband is working here in Budapest and she was doing some work for friends and the school got to hear of her and approached her. I think she has more work than she would like really - she has 2 boys herself so is only part-time. If she leaves I am not sure they will be able to replace her.

'Tis odd indeed.
I think it's not so much the availability of such help/professionals as the acknowledgment that some children need extra help with XYZ and here's the plan...
Here it's all hushed and shameful somehow. Mainstream schools have no provision whatsoever for any mild learning difficulty - from pencil grip to dyslexia.
Sorry - I'll slink back to the German Schools thread, our haven for dispirited parents

yes it can change, ds was similar at 6 and with help has improved greatly . Still not as neat as dd (who is 3 years younger) but definitely improved even in the last year (he's almost 10). Also has hyperflexible joints.