Any ideas on how I can improve DS's pencil hold?

[BarbEDahl]

At the moment it's more of a grab than a hold IYSWIM. He's only 4 and his teacher doesn't seem too bothered about it at the moment but I wondered if there was anything I could be doing to encourage him at home.

you can get pencil grips from places like Fun learning that help position the fingers. Also get him to write with a teensy piece of chalk on a blackboard-that helps make the fingers go in the right place

My DS is also 4 (5 in May) and has trouble with his writing. We have triangular pencils, which you can buy at Ryman's. Last night I met with his teachers to discuss his fine motor skills, which are notably lagging behind his peers. His muscle tone is fine. The paediatrician says he's fine, but I'm not quite satisfied. So we now have a plan and some exercises (apparently picking up small objects with close pins is a great activity). In a class of 30, he is one of 3 or 4 who need a bit of extra help.

A lot of people say to me "That's boys for you" but I don't really buy this because most of the boys in his class are miles ahead of him. And, of the 3 or 4 who need extra help, some but not all are boys.

The teacher has been working with him (and a few others) and I know have some things to do at home. I think with just a bit of extra intention he will be ready to write in year one. Basically, I want to give him the extra help before he falls behind because it would be much harder for him to catch up later.

Ergosoft Staedtler Jumbo Noris Pencil

When I was about that age, I was adamant that it was better to hold my pencil in my fist than with a proper pencil grip. I was totally stubborn about it.

My mother went out and bought me a really nice pack of colouring pencils, and told me that they would only work if I held them properly. I still feel mildly irritated that I actually believed her , but it worked fairly effectively!

I have tried every pencil grip on the market and have struck gold with the Penagain Twist and Write pencil-it's fab!!!!! It has 2 prongs so is almost impossible to hold incorrectly. It's really doing the trick with ds. Ideally I'd like to take one into school but fear he'd kill me. They are £5 for a pack of 4 from Amazon,they're glittery and in funky colours.

Make sure he does loads of Lego,playdough and inching activities eg eating raisins out of tiny boxes etc.

Hi Barb, you have some great suggestions here, but I also wanted to let you know that ds didn't even settle on which hand to use until he was 6, and he's caught up just fine. I'm pleased his teacher is relaxed about it and I hope you find one of these ideas useful.

when we had this an OT suggested that we get DS to use really small crayons or pencils - the kind that you usually throw away os they're too small - they're really difficult to hold in a fist so you almost have to hold them with the ends of your fingers. The other suggestion was to try writing at an easel - the different angle of slope can help some children to change their pencil grip to a more standard one apparently.

Ds2 was given a pencil grip and a wedge type thing which sat on his desk, and he put his writing book on top of it na dwrote. It improved his writing and pencil grip quite alot

it was like this

This is a timely thread for me as I had a long discussion with DD aboout this last night. She insists holding it in her fist is better, depite what we, her teacher and everyone else says. The more I tried to explain the stroppier she got! Eventually I told her to just hold it with her nose, which defused the situation a bit.
Anyway, will try some of these pen grips, thanks.

Get a darts set. This is the same way you hold a pencil and with the lightness of grip that you need to avoid cramps.

Can anyone tell me if the pencil grip thingies work equally well for left-handed children, or do they need something different? Thanks

you can buy left handy ones

Thanks!

dd1 has this problem and we're waiting for a referal to the OT. I've heard it may take nine months to come through though so I am going to buy some pen grips too - any other suggestions please keep them coming

If a child cant draw a man they are not ready to write and they may not have the muscle tone required for correct pencil grip. If this is the case they need lots of fine motor activities to strengthen the muscles, pegging and beading, big writing, writing in shaving foam.

I would agree with benandoli, lots of additional fine motor activities to strengthen the pencil grip will help. Try games like getting them to peg/unpeg clothes pegs round the edge of a bowl, thread beads on a string, screw lids on jars, fasten buttons etc etc. Try some of those 'stress ball' type toys and get them to squeeze and pummel them.

My DS had a lot of OT support in reception and continues to do additional practice in Y1 (he is also left-handed). Pencil grips are great, you can also buy triangular pencils. DS's occupational therapist used to tell him to 'make a snappy crocodile' with his thumb and first fingers (i.e. get them to snap the thumb and first finger together, then get your 'crocodile' to 'snap up' the pencil - it automatically encourages a proper pencil grip.

DS really struggled with handwriting etc in reception but making great progress now.