We have been trying to encourage our five year old to hold his pencil properly with the correct triangular grip but he prefers to hold it with his middle finger and thumb rather than his index finger.
So what have we tried?
In the Reception class they were told to use "tweeting" fingers to hold their pencil - so "tweet" like a bird with the index and thumb and then pick up the pencil - the novelty wore off! He recently came home with a paper aeroplane and worked out that it was the same fingers he needed to hold the pencil with so that might be another good exercise for children needing to encourage their index finger and thumb to work together.
We have tried triangular pencils but because his grip is only slightly off this doesn't help, ditto the triangular grip. The grippy pencil grip looked promising to start with - it did make him hold the pencil correctly but he found it awkward to position by himself each time he needed to pick up the pencil. Lastly, we tried the tri-go grip this has three clear spaces for the fingers and he could position is fingers independently and most importantly it did improve his grip.
What works best now? Telling him if I see him holding his pen incorrectly I will tell Miss B he needs to have more handwriting practice!
How have you encouraged your children to correct their grip?
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2 comments:
my son has aspergers and I have just been told by an expert that he doesn't hold his pencil properly and he will need to be referred to an OT to get support with this. Another person told me that we all hold our pencils differently anywan and not to worry. Fundamentally my son writes, but how neatly compared to his peers I am not sure.
He is a bright 7 year old and in main stream school, but I have noticed loads of my friends appear to have issues with their sons in particular, and holding pencils and writing. hhhhmmm, interesting.
Your shop looks like it has some good products, maybe I should get my son a grippy holder for his pencils?! There are so many things to think about that I get overwhelmed at times by it all.
By the way I found you through the mummy bloggers network which I joined a couple of days ago and saw you were asking about comments, so I thought I would introduce myself by commenting! :)
Amelia.x
(over at: www.101birdtales.blogspot.com)
I'm afraid that I fall into the same category as your son. They tried everything with me at school when I was a child, but eventually gave up. I hold it very strangely but I have no problems with my writing. I also hold my knife and fork the wrong way as well. Some of us are just meant to be different!
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