Katie,
You have had some wonderful advice here. I want to add that we went through agony with handwriting at K level in a private school. I took my son to "handwriting therapy" at a well known hospital here and off the record the OT told me schools are forcing small children to do things they are unprepared for. She hauled out xrays of childrens hands and how they grow and said, "I understand what you are up against in a private school setting and of course we will help you all we can, but I can tell you for a fact, his hands are simply not at a growth stage to do what the teachers expect them to do." It was a revelation. I got him out of the "demanding" school, put him in Montessori and eventually in fourth grade began to home school. I found the past two years of homeschooling we used Handwriting Without Tears --and no pressure. He still holds his pencil "weird" but his writing is just fine now.
Good luck and don't invest a lot of anguish over this. By the time they are in fifth or sixth grade, they will be keyboarding everything anyway. When is the last time you wrote a nice long cursive letter to anyone?? Email and computers rule our lives!
K
Stay away from Handwriting with out Tears. This has messed both of my kids handwritings up.
Many school systems are using it, but for some kids, it is not a good program. If you talk to some of the Occupational Therapist in these school systems, many of them will tell you they hate the Handwriting without tears program.
Try the First Strokes Program instead.
You can get information about it through... The Handwriting Clinic.
www.thehandwritingclinic.com
My kids have had great success with this program. Easy terms kids understand... like stop and go fingers(term reminds the kids know which fingers to hold the pencil with.
Most of all, keep your daughters confidence up when it comes to handwriting. With Handwriting, its is easy for them to get discouraged when they are having a hard time. Just remind her to do her best, keep trying, and tell her how it gets better every time she practices.
Find ways she would enjoy to make handwriting fun.
EXAMPLE:
Writing down short simple cookie ingredients to a cookie recipe. You can have her help make the cookies right after she writes down the ingredients.
Hi Katie,
I am an occupational therapist so I have a few suggestions. First of all, some kids take longer to develop a "standard" grip. And some develop a grip that differs from the norm but is functional. I would try wide pencils, markers..all writing utensils although she is probably already using these in school. There are pencil grip attachments you can usually find at the store or some medical supply catalogs. (You may want to plug words into a search engine like, handwriting skills, pencil grips) These promote a proper pencil grip.
My niece was in first grade and her teacher noted she still had not developed proper grip. I would physically place her hands on the wide based markers when completing coloring activities and encourage holding it that way by saying that it will help with more defined lines. (in kid languagge of course). She almost always would revert back to her way but I continued to try and re-place her hands.
You could ask to consult the school occupational therapist but I would wait and see if she doesn't naturally develop a proper grip with using some of the above techniques. Also, if her current grip is functional and not impeding her learning then I would just give it time.
I hope this helps!
I have been teaching for 30 years and the first 18 were spent in first grade. One item that helped children with holding a pencil correctly is a small grip you can put on the pencil. It has indentations for finger positioning. I now have 6th graders who still like to use them. You can get them at stores where teacher supplies are sold. You may be able to get them other places but I haven't looked in many years. It seems once they get to 6th grade you can't change the way they hold a pencil without much blood, sweat, and tears.
Good luck.
Practice with your daughter. Place the pencil in her hand and place your hand over hers. Write with her for a few minutes then let her try it on her own. Be careful not to over due this she will get frustrated and become rebelious. Perhaps you could try with crayons first. Use different colors and make it fun. She is developing her fine motor skills right now so you want to be sure to praise her for progress. Hope this helps.
My son has the same problem and the OT suggested the pencil grips so I bought at Teacher's Tools at 121 on lewisville some pencil grips that help him position his fingers in the right place. Also, sometimes I take off the grip and make him hold a small marble in the palm of his hand while writing, this help's him keep the fingers in position and not use the five fingers to hold the pencil.
My son has the same problem and the OT suggested the pencil grips so I bought at Teacher's Tools at 121 on lewisville some pencil grips that help him position his fingers in the right place. Also, sometimes I take off the grip and make him hold a small marble in the palm of his hand while writing, this help's him keep the fingers in position and not use the five fingers to hold the pencil.
I have a 6 yr old son that still holds the pencil "funny", but, it works for him. His handwriting was really bad until just recently and we finally figured out what has helped. They need to build up the fine motor skills to be able to control the pencil better. He's been playing his new PS2 the last couple of months, since Christmas. We had a teacher conference just a couple of days ago and the handwriting teacher was in there also. Both teachers and I noticed that just in the last few weeks his handwriting has improved tremendously. We think it's because he's strengthening his fine motor skills by playing on his game. The controls help greatly to build up those muscles.
Good luck!
Ask the teacher for some suggestions. My daughter's kindergarten teacher had a catchy phrase (can't remember) that encouraged her to hold her pencil correctly. If your daughter just needs help with her fine motor skills, try giving her some clay to strengthen her finger muscles.
Trace a heart on a piece of construction paper, have her use a push pin to prick all the way around the heart until the heart comes loose. The only way to hold a push pin is the same way you would hold a pencil. Works like a charm! Teaches the children patience. Put a mouse pad underneath so she'll have some cushion. Make sure she is supervised. If you use the push pin as a tool then they will treat it with care. Good Luck
I just saw in a catalog "One Step Ahead" a pencil gripper 3-pack $6.95 invented by a Physician that teaches how to hold pencils right. www.onestepahead.com (#11942)-just incase-. As a mom with 7 year old I think that would be the eastest way!
Katie,
I am a teacher (preschool Montessori). The muscles of children's fingers need to develop, so any exercises with the 3 finger grasp, helps develop them. For ex: puzzles with knobs. Finger transfer of cotton balls from one container to another with tongs, etc.I also always tell them: "make Big Bird's Beak" before they hold their pencil, they relate to this concept. Model it for her.
There are also plastic pencil holders with indentations, these will greatly help.
Good luck!
Cecilia
One thing you can do is have her hold one of those pom-pom balls (or cotton ball) in the palm of her hand using her ring finger and pinky while the other fingers are in the pincher grasp with the pencil.
Another idea is to break all of her crayons in half, this will force her to use the appropriate grasp.
You can always voice your concern to your child's teacher and she should be able to consult with the campus OT which in turn will provide her with different tactics that can be passed on to you.
Hope these help!
Dear Katie,
I have three kids of my own. One imparticular had troulbe with handwriting. His teachers at school had him use pencil grippers and he was also taken out of the classroom for extra help. Look into extra help at your school for handwriting issues. There is also a handwriting clinic in Plano, TX which is a great resource to help you out. Above all, do not get frustrated. Every child devlops at there own pace. Also pinching the pencil is a great way to teach your child how to hold the pencil.
Hope this helps a little bit.
my son also held his pencil funny, we tried strengthening his fingers by having him pick up small items, like cheerios. also they have kindergarten pencils, the fat ones, they are suppose to be good that.
Hello,
I'll offer my thoughts on the mechanics of pencil holding.First of all my background, I taught in public school for 10 years (4 of them in Kindergarten). Improper pencil holding is very common in Kinder/1st grades. In my opinion, it falls into the 'don't sweat the small stuff' category. Some children simply don't have the fine motor skills at that age to properly hold a pencil or crayon. By the way, what is proper is highly debatable amongst educators. Different teachers promote different holds. The most important thing is that your daughter hold the pencil in a way that does not cramp and tire out her hand. Continue to model and correct as you work with your daughter. I truly believe she will grow into a proper hold. Hope this helps! Good luck.
I have a five year old daughter in kindergarten and she holds her pencil funny too! Her teacher and I have talked about it and we both decided not to worry about it because she has good handwriting and draws very well holding her pencil "funny". We think that eventually, when her hands grow bigger that she will change her grip on her own.
You could try those pencil grips that are a triangle shape though...I heard they sometimes help.
Hi Katie,
In my old preschool class, we would get the Crayola skinny crayons, peel the paper off, and break each crayon into three or four small pieces (the smaller the better). The small size of the crayon would "force" the children to hold the crayon correctly and hopefully help them move onto holding a pencil properly.
Also, there are some great pencil grips you can get for small hands.
Playing with playdough is also a great way to help strengthen fine motor skills!
Good luck!
You probably need to strengthen her fine motor skills. Have her use scissors to cut paper. If you can find a squishy ball about the size for her to squeeze, playing with it would help. And puzzles with smaller pieces might help too. I also heard if you have her color with little bitty crayons it will make her hold them with the tips of her fingers therefore strengthening those muscles. Good luck. CS
You need to work on her pincher grasp. Start with big crayons or pencils to build up her muscles and work your way down.