Phryne Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I have a six year old with average handwriting and generally good dexterity. We have been working on handwriting and proper pencil grip for more than a year, and it seems that she simply does not like the classic "tripod" grip. She can demonstrate it on command, but always reverts to something that is almost like the classic tripod, but doesn't involve resting the pencil on the middle finger. She uses her middle finger, index finger and thumb to squeeze the pencil, requiring, surely, a tighter grip that I believe may lead to fatigue over time. (I do not see the strain in her hand, but I have seen it in others who use this almost-right grip, and I can feel it in my wrist when I try it.) I know how to teach the classic grip. We worked on it, and she learned it. However, we only do a little written work at this age; the majority of her time with pencils, markers, and crayons is at her art desk making her own art freely. This has been the case since before we started homeschooling at age five. I cannot closely monitor her the entire time she is drawing. That is when I am making dinner, doing laundry, and taking care of other tasks. She makes lovely art and I am happy with the way her art time works for her. Recently, she has also started writing her own stories. She does this during free art time, also, and while I could closely monitor just this if I so chose, I believe it would be a fast way to discourage her from using her free time to write stories, with a nagging mother over her shoulder. Therefore, I attempt to enforce good grip only when we are working together during homeschool time. I am about ready to give up. During our brief, daily handwriting sessions, I might remind her to switch to the proper grip several times, but she quickly reverts to what she uses during her free time. I feel frustrated, and I recently realized that there is no way I can compete with the hours for free time she uses to draw and write with the "wrong" grip. Of course, what I did after realizing that all was hopeless was head straight to Google looking for confirmation of what I already wanted to do: give up. I found articles stating that, as long as the child is able to use her fingers, rather than her wrist, to make the motions needed for the strokes, the grip need not be corrected. Here is an example of an article that is encouraging me to give up:https://skillsforaction.com/handwriting/pencil-grip-overview Has anyone else given up? What were the results? Even better, did anyone "give up" on a young child's grip and find that she magically started doing it the right way when she was older? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Just personal experience. I had a terrible grip as a child. Terrible. It was the result of improper tools for my small hands and just trying to cope. I did experience writing fatigue often in school and overcame it by making my own shorthand over the years, modeling it after real shorthand but creating it based on letters I knew already. Don't get me wrong - I have beautiful handwriting and always have. My grip, while tiring and painful to me over a long period, didn't hinder me at all. It may, however, have had something to do with how quickly I took to typing, though. 😄 When I started teaching my own kids to write, I started using a proper grip more and used the same techniques I was using for teaching to encourage a better grip in my own hand. I write much more easily now. I don't think any teacher could have encouraged me enough to give up my old style without me wanting it, at least not until I was ready to do so on my own. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 My teachers forced me to use those awful grips for years and my grip never changed. I write with my pencil resting on my ring finger and that is how I still write. It didn't hinder me and I overcame any hand fatigue I originally had. One of my kids writes exactly the same way and I spared him the grip torture 😋 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 (edited) We had SO many battles of different kinds with DS#2 in the pre-school / kinder / early elementary ages, I gave up on trying to force a pencil grip on him. He also loved to draw, and did fine with his odd pencil grip. I think trying to force something different kept making him feel he had far less fine motor control for drawing. In middle school he switched to typing his Writing assignments, which increased his willingness to write longer sentences/paragraphs, and reduced his hand fatigue -- and switching to typing was actually a big help to his spelling and writing struggles. We stumbled across Callirobics and Dianne Craft's "writing 8s" exercise when he was in high school, and doing each for about 5 min/day seemed to help him relax his grip a bit, and definitely improved legibility of his handwriting. He is an adult in his 20s and still grips the pencil oddly (and in a way that must be tiring), but it doesn't seem to cause him problems -- probably because most things in this day and age are typed rather than hand-written, lol. BEST of luck in deciding what to do with your DC. Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited January 14, 2019 by Lori D. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clemsondana Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 HWOT shows 2 basic grips - the 'standard' and then a similar one that rests on a different finger. The second one is the one that my mom and I both use. I showed my kids both, and let them pick. Right now I'm fighting with my 9yo, who insists on using something with her thumb wrapped around the pencil. I'd be fine with any variation of normal, but I struggle to believe that she'll have the stamina to write as much as she'll need to when she's using...well, I'm not sure what, but it's not fingertips! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phryne Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Thank you, all. I appreciate all the input. My friend has a copy of HWOT, and I'm going to ask her if I can borrow it just to see the grip page. (We use Zaner-Bloser.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phryne Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 Update: My daughter's grip is the second-choice grip mentioned in HWOT! I wasn't giving her enough credit for resting the pencil somewhere (on the ring finger). I'm pretty hooked on the conventional middle-finger rest for my own writing, so it was hard to imagine her grip being comfortable and effective, but I am going to go with my daughter's, and HWOT's, thoughts on the subject for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 9 minutes ago, Phryne said: Update: My daughter's grip is the second-choice grip mentioned in HWOT! I wasn't giving her enough credit for resting the pencil somewhere (on the ring finger). I'm pretty hooked on the conventional middle-finger rest for my own writing, so it was hard to imagine her grip being comfortable and effective, but I am going to go with my daughter's, and HWOT's, thoughts on the subject for now. That is awesome! This is my grip too (ring finger rest) and I cannot imagine resting it on my middle finger...it feels so uncomfortable to me. She will be totally fine and you will save her from torture 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phryne Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 Thanks, nixpix5! I'm glad I decided to ask here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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