lorrainejmc Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I have been curious about weighted pencils for a while. My newly 8 yr old ds is using HWT. His writing is very faint and wiggly but improves a lot when I rest my hand on his wrist. Could a weighted pencil help him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitascool Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I don't know if it will help but my 10yo uses a weighted pencil and he is doing much better with it. He has a slightly different problem, in that he presses too hard with his lead, but has the wiggly sloppy mess too. The weighted pencils that you buy in the sensory catalogs are expensive upwards of $20 dollars per weight. So our Occupational Therapist made him a pencil using bolts from the hardware store. Just take a number 2 pencil with you and see which ones fit best. She used rubber bands instead of tape as this photo shows. She also used 4 bolts. His writing has improved with it. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lT7ukgQg5zA/TmLjXV437ZI/AAAAAAAAGZo/j_I_s7MhD4U/s320/0903111917-780350.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 I don't know if it will help but my 10yo uses a weighted pencil and he is doing much better with it. He has a slightly different problem, in that he presses too hard with his lead, but has the wiggly sloppy mess too. The weighted pencils that you buy in the sensory catalogs are expensive upwards of $20 dollars per weight. So our Occupational Therapist made him a pencil using bolts from the hardware store. Just take a number 2 pencil with you and see which ones fit best. She used rubber bands instead of tape as this photo shows. She also used 4 bolts. His writing has improved with it. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lT7ukgQg5zA/TmLjXV437ZI/AAAAAAAAGZo/j_I_s7MhD4U/s320/0903111917-780350.jpg Thanks for sharing, I will try that before investing in a weight. We are in N Ireland and the pencil weights are about double the cost of the USA. Nothing new about that.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocolatemuffins Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 You may have tried this already, but our OT recommended using fat pencils. They really seem to help as DS tends to grip the pencil too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted November 11, 2011 Author Share Posted November 11, 2011 You may have tried this already, but our OT recommended using fat pencils. They really seem to help as DS tends to grip the pencil too hard. Hmmm, he does colour much better with fat crayons. I think I have a fat pencil somewhere so I'll try that too.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer-72 Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 I have been curious about weighted pencils for a while. My newly 8 yr old ds is using HWT. His writing is very faint and wiggly but improves a lot when I rest my hand on his wrist. Could a weighted pencil help him? Does he keep his wrist in a good position when writing? If not, a slant board may help. Also, if he has trouble with gauging the force he needs to do other fine motor activities either too much or to little, you may find weighted gloves more helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 I have been curious about weighted pencils for a while. My newly 8 yr old ds is using HWT. His writing is very faint and wiggly but improves a lot when I rest my hand on his wrist. Could a weighted pencil help him? The weighted pencils that you buy in the sensory catalogs are expensive upwards of $20 dollars per weight. So our Occupational Therapist made him a pencil using bolts from the hardware store. Just take a number 2 pencil with you and see which ones fit best. She used rubber bands instead of tape as this photo shows. She also used 4 bolts. His writing has improved with it. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lT7ukgQg5zA/TmLjXV437ZI/AAAAAAAAGZo/j_I_s7MhD4U/s320/0903111917-780350.jpg What a wonderful way to make a weighted pencil. Some things that OT's recommended for us: -- pencil grips -- weighted pencil -- quality pencil with a lead that makes a dark mark, not necessarily a very soft lead, just a good quality one -- slant board. You can make one by using a 4" binder. -- proper position when writing, good posture -- feet anchored, using a footstool if feet don't reach the ground -- exercises for upper body, especially shoulders. It sounded weird to me, but it is a big help. Do exercises such as: writing on an upright easel or blackboard, playing volleyball with balloons, wheelbarrow walking. Pocket Full of Therapy has a wonderful selection of handwriting helps. Expensive, but worth it IMO. I loved their slantboard. http://www.pfot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 I just wanted to update this thread. I decided to make a weighted pencil like the one a PP showed. Ds tried it a few times and it was of no help. So he just continued to practice a lot on the HWT slate and I encouraged more colouring with crayons. Suddenly there has been an incredible improvement in: appropriate pressure on pencil ability to copy the letter shape willingness to write I will never figure this kid out.:001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DandelionMom Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Wow weighted pencils!!! I have to look into this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 (edited) I just wanted to update this thread. I decided to make a weighted pencil like the one a PP showed. Ds tried it a few times and it was of no help. So he just continued to practice a lot on the HWT slate and I encouraged more colouring with crayons. Suddenly there has been an incredible improvement in: appropriate pressure on pencil ability to copy the letter shape willingness to write I will never figure this kid out.:001_huh: Thanks for the update. I like to read about improvements. :) Some kids are really hard to figure out, aren't they? My son had the opposite problem of writing too hard. And we used a weighted glove, not a weighted pencil, but the concepts are similar. Some children need extra help to recognize where their hands are when they write--and a weight or other techniques can help them with that. While you didn't see immediate improvement following the weighted pencil, the fact that his writing improved about a month after you tried it might not be entirely coincidental. Coloring with crayons was also probably very helpful too in providing him with even more feedback to know where his hand was, (plus it was probably more fun for him.) It was probably easier for him to see the results of pushing softer or harder when coloring entire pictures with crayons than it is with writing letters with a regular pen or pencil. Edited December 15, 2011 by merry gardens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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