At what age should ds be holding a pencil 'correctly' to write?

[avazquez24]

DS will be 5 in a few weeks and just started kinder....When dd was this age, she held a pencil perfectly fine and was able to write completely on her own fine. I don't like to compare ds to dd, but I just don't know what is the 'norm' then:confused:

DS holds his pencil NO where near the correct way. He basically just wraps all his fingers around it (if that makes sense). He can't really write anything on his own...he finally is starting to be able to make some numbers and some basic letters somewhat on his own (although they're REALLY big when he writes them and still very messy).

I don't want to 'push' him so to speak on holding the pencil correctly if he's not ready...but I don't want to let it go if he should be able to hold it correctly at this age. I don't know if I should be concerned about his printing at this point? or if it will develope in his own time when he's ready:confused:

Edited August 25, 2012 by avazquez24

[kiwik]

My kids both held their pencils properly by 2.5 and 3.5 but I think their are a lot of 5 year olds starting school that don't.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Boys' fine motor control is typically behind that of girls. I don't believe it would be out of the norm to have a 7 yo still working with pencil grip.

 

Keep working on building those muscles up with clay, stringings beads, hand sewing...and in the meantime provide him with other ways to practice the shapes and strokes of his letters and numbers.

 

Use a salt tray and allow him to use his finger to write with. Soap up your counter top and use it as a writing surface. Use large cutout letters and numbers and have him trace the proper strokes with his finger. You get the idea, just anything that will allow him to keep practicing without the frustration of trying to get precision out of immature muscles.

[Alessandra]

If I could pass on advice from our former OT -- build up shoulder muscles as well as fine muscles in hands. Good exercises include drawing on a vertical surface (easel, blackboard), playing balloon volleyball, wheelbarrow walking.

 

Also you might want to check out pencil grips -- Pocket Full of Therapy has a wide selection.

[Mommie_Jen]

Mine is 5 1/2 and I constantly need to remind him to check how he is holding his pencil. He can do it, it just slips his mind. We do need to work on some hand strengthening too!

[MamaBear]

:bigear:

[SkateLeft]

Honestly, I'd start having him hold his pencil correctly now. There are little grips you can buy that will help.

 

When my other three were young, people told me not to worry about how they held a pencil, that eventually they'd develop enough fine motor skill to be able to do it.

 

None of them holds a pencil correctly, and I *really* wish that I'd had them do it from a young age. It really doesn't require a ton of fine motor skill, contrary to popular belief. My 6.5 year old has significant motor delays (among other challenges), but he spent two years in special ed preschool, where they taught ALL the kids in class to hold their pencils correctly.

 

Ironically, my motor delayed little guy is the only one of my kids who does it correctly.

[Dinsfamily]

I don't know the answer but I've have one boy wasn't close at the beginning of K, one boy who was generally good at the beginning of K, and one boy who has had a correct grip since he was 2.5yo. I think there is a wide range of normal and your ds sounds fine.

 

With my oldest, I bought 4 different kinds of grips and let him choose which one he liked. It worked liked a charm and he only needed it for about 3 months. Ds6 only used a grip while he was learning letter formation and Ds4 will not need a grip at all.

[Kathryn]

No idea, but ODS was holding correctly by 3.5 on his own without any prompting. I was dreading having to correct. I hope I have the same luck with his brother.

[avazquez24]

Thank you everyone!! I tried today to show him how to 'properly' hold it (this was before I was able to log on and see any responses on here)....I was stumped for a minute on how to show him HOW to hold it LOL...he's left handed (As is dd) while I'm right handed. He had a much harder time actually using the pencil and writing his letters or tracing when holding it in the correct position. Perhaps it's because he's not used to it?

Some mentioned pencil grips, so I was going to go post a thread asking if there were any specific ones that were best to get for him

[FO4UR]

You could give him small (1 inch) nubs of crayons to use. The only way to hold a crayon that small is with a tripod grasp. (Yep - go and break your pretty crayons.)

 

 

Get a stetro grip and a cross-over grip. Try a few different styles. Have him use the grip of choice for tracing/drawing/everything that he doesn't use crayon nubs for.

 

 

When teaching my oldest to use a grip, I had him "karate chop" the desk (to get his hand positioned with thumb up), "eraser out" (so he would position the pencil with the lead at the correct end:lol:), "and grip" (and I like the stetro grips b/c they have a little star where the thumb goes which makes it easier to figure out how to hold the thing).

 

I like the chunky triangular shaped pencils! Try them. Rainbow Resource has some really nice colored pencils, and Ticonderoga makes nice regular triwrite pencils. These make a nice transition from grips/crayon nubs to normal pencils.

[Dinsfamily]

I like the crossover grip for young ones like your ds, but I let my boys choose between that, the pencil grip, or the stetro. Ds6 is a lefty (as are dh and myself) and had no problem using any of those grips.

[Farrar]

Just another vote for doing it sooner, rather than later. I started correcting my kids' grips when they were toddlers with fat crayons. Just one correction probably won't do it - you'll have to really stay on him about it.

[blondeviolin]

Without a grip, I have placed a square of tissue or toilet paper in my kids' hands. They grip it with the two fingers that shouldn't be used and forces the child to write win a more proper grip.

 

Even after all of this, my oldest has adopted a quadropod grip, which I've decided not to battle because it is another correct, but more rare, way to hold a writing utensil. I even hold it such a way. :blush:

[alisoncooks]

My oldest didn't hold a pencil properly until 5/Kindergarten.

My youngest (now 4) continues to hold it in the whole-hand grip. She *can* hold it properly, but her writing is terrible when she does (very light, wobbly). I am assuming that she just needs to develop those muscles, more practice, etc.

 

With my oldest, we use those triangle pencils to help her remember how to hold it... My youngest -- when I remember to get them out -- uses a grip.

(But I love the idea of using teeny tiny pencil nubs!)

[BatmansWife]

My son is 17 and he still holds his pencil weird. To me...normal pencil holding is with the pencil between the middle and pointer finger (if this makes any kind of sense) and the thumb on the side...touching the pointer finger. He holds the pencil between the ring finger and middle finger...with the middle and pointer fingers on top and with the thumb over on top of those two fingers. :confused: I've tried to get him to try and do it the right way (my way :001_smile: ) but he feels it isn't comfortable. I look at what he does and it looks like it would cramp my hand. But...he likes his way (and he says my way cramps his hand). Oh well.

[Ellie]

From the first time he picks up a chubby crayon to scribble on the wall. Really.

 

IOW, right now. It will take continued gentle instruction and reminders.

[morosophe]

I like

little piece from Handwriting without Tears. I'll include the important lyrics here:

 

"My thumb is bent, pointer points to the tip,

Tall man uses his side.

I tuck my last two fingers in

And take them for a ride."

 

I taught my middle son proper grip, and then let him go back to preschool (three mornings a week), and he came out of there determined on the fist grip. Sigh.

 

Meanwhile, his two-year-old brother is gripping his crayons just perfectly without any help.

 

What makes it really kind of odd for me is that both are lefties, unlike myself, my husband, and my oldest son. (But just like both their grandfathers!)

[srs]

My 5yo is still working on it, although it is getting better. I do have her stop and fix it whenever i see that it's not correct, and we just started the Handwriting Without Tears K workbook this week.