Hand position in writing...

[nature girl]

My DD4 has her pen grip down just fine, and is able to form (messy) letters, but she still holds the pinkie end of her hand in the air, and uses her whole hand to write. Her other fine motor skills are great, and her finger strength is fine, she just doesn't seem to have the agility yet to do the motions with her fingers. Is there anything I can do to improve that? Or to gently teach her to balance her hand on the paper? Or is this just something that develops over time?

[Ellie]

It will definitely *not* develop *properly* over time. Not sure how to help you fix it, though. Let me think...

[Walking-Iris]

I'm trying to visualize what you mean. My oldest went through a lot of various handwriting help when he was that age in OT.

 

Do you mean that she holds her hand and possibly even her arm off the table?

 

One thing that remedied that for my ds was writing on a slanted surface. You could buy a slanted table top desk or just use a huge 3 ring binder and tape to hold the paper in place. It encouraged relaxing of the shoulders and the chest. I didn't realize it until my OT spotted it that some kids will hold their upper body and shoulder stiffly and raise that elbow/arm off the table. They're using the wrong muscle groups. Slanted surfaces and even time writing standing at a white board/chalkboard---either on a wall or easel helps. 

 

Small pieces of crayons or pencils help as well. Golf pencils, broken crayons, broken chalk are all things our OT had my ds working with.

 

Other things that could help is fine motor activities for fine motor control---holding a group of pennies in palm of one hand and using the fingers of the same hand to take one and place it down on a spot. This was surprisingly hard for my ds but it sure did help with fine motor control in his hands. Thsi is called in hand manipulation.

 

http://therapystreetforkids.com/fm-inhandmanip.html

 

While she rights and her shoulder or arm starts to raise off the edge of the table you can just very gently place your hand on her writing arm shoulder and the gentle weight will encourage her to relax the shoulder and let it lower. (make sure she's writing at a level table and she can place her feet on the floor from her chair---these tips are useless if she is reaching high, kneeling, laying down and so on. Nothing wrong with any of those positions when just playing around, but when doing actual school work and handwriting practice I have my kids sitting properly).

 

Having said all that I do believe it takes young children time to develop finger and wrist control over moving the whole arm while writing.

 

 

[nature girl]

Thank you SO much Walking-Iris for all the suggestions!! Yes, her whole hand and forearm are off the table when she writes, so she's using her whole hand/arm in order to form strokes rather than using her fingers. I've also noticed recently that her pen grip is really loose...She actually has a hard time with crayons because she can't press down hard enough, even though her general finger strength is fine.

 

I'm going to try all these tricks. I love the idea of using a slanted desk or 3 ring binder, I'll try that tomorrow and hopefully that will get her used to the feel of having her hand on a surface. The hand manipulation exercises also look great, we'll have fun with those.

 

Thank you again so much...Googling the issue has yielded nothing, so I'm glad I brought it here!

[Walking-Iris]

An OT eval can be priceless in helping lots of things!

 

For the holding pencils to lightly, you could try grease pencils. 

 

You could also try a rubber band trick http://www.hiphomeschoolmoms.com/2013/04/a-good-pencil-grip-can-make-all-the-difference/ 

 

I've even heard of putting a bit of play doh around the pencil to give them something to squeeze into while writing. 

[Korrale]

Would holding a pebble or a Pom Pom in her palm when she writes help?

[nature girl]

Would holding a pebble or a Pom Pom in her palm when she writes help?

 

I did this when we were teaching pen grip, and it worked perfectly! I tried the 3-ring binder today, and she did rest her hand on the notebook so that was a success. But she ended up moving her whole hand and arm around the notebook to form the letters...I think the issue may be finger dexterity, so we'll keep using the binder and we're going to work more on the in-hand manipulations for the next several days/weeks...We had fun with a couple of them today.

[Walking-Iris]

http://therapystreetforkids.com/UpperBody.html

 

More fun activities to try. I remember our OT working on trunk strength quite a bit with my oldest. He was in OT at 4. 

 

But also don't worry too much, keep trying all the fine and gross motor activities. It is somewhat normal for young children to make large movements while writing, the fine wrist and finger control will come later. I don't know how intense of large movements your dd is making, but continue to keep giving her a "sensory diet"--you may like the book The Out of Sync Child Has Fun, which is excellent for all kids.

 

 

 

 

[nature girl]

Thanks, I'm not worried at all, it's just she gets frustrated with herself because her lines are so shaky, so I'm hoping this will help. (She'll make up little stories for the letters, to make herself feel better. Like, "That K is bent because he was trying to tickle that E with his leg." LOL)

[Walking-Iris]

Have you tried Handwriting Without Tears? 

[nature girl]

I don't know if HWT would help her, since the K level seems to be focused on teaching letter formation, which she already has down pretty well. When I saw her trying to write stories on her own last year I just helped her figure out strokes through writing in sand and shaving cream, and the strokes translated pretty well once she started using a pen. I've been tempted to try the little chalkboard, though.

[LikeToListen]

Thanks, I'm not worried at all, it's just she gets frustrated with herself because her lines are so shaky, so I'm hoping this will help. (She'll make up little stories for the letters, to make herself feel better. Like, "That K is bent because he was trying to tickle that E with his leg." LOL)

 

Can she use scissors well? Can she trace shapes well?  If her pen grip/posture isn't right, writing for more than a few mins would put stress on the muscles. 

 

If writing alphabets would be boring, I would let her trace shapes or paint.  They need fine motor skills to color/paint inside a shape along the curves (need to watch for any spills though).

 

DD4 can write sentences on her own. She knows her letters and understands word boundaries. I am still planning to complete "writing alphabets" section of IEW-PAL Writing.  It has letter stories so it would be fun for us.  If she doesn't want to write an alphabet 6-8 times, I would let her write once and move on.   Though she is self-motivated and loves to write, a lot of writing isnt needed for her age.  I let her do a lot of cutting and painting activities.  That would refine her fine motor skills, concentration abilities and discipline (she knows to use washable paints without messing up).