![]() Try using a small ball of playdough, cotton ball, marble, bead, crumpled piece of tissue paper, or tiny rubbery toy. It really doesn’t matter what they hide under their last two fingers, as long as they can comfortably do so without their fingers bulging out from their hand because the item is too big, or having to squeeze too tightly because it’s too small. However, sometimes kids have a hard time with this because they can’t yet “separate” the two sides of their hand (the pinky side and the thumb side). These two fingers are supposed to bend toward the palm while the thumb, index, and middle fingers do all the work. If shorter pencils and the “pinch and flip” don’t work, then try having students hide something under their pinky and ring fingers. Trick #3: Have them hide something under their last two fingers. Watch the video below for a less-than-one-minute demonstration and explanation of this trick. Simply have them pinch the sharpened end of the pencil and then flip it around until it gently rests in the “webspace” (that soft skin between your thumb and index finger) in the ready position. If shorter pencils don’t do the trick for your little writer, then teach them the “pinch and flip”. Trick #2: Teach them the “pinch and flip”. Click here to read more about why kids should use shorter crayons. It’s also why occupational therapists often have kids use crayons that have been broken in half if they are having trouble using an age-appropriate grasp. This is why the popular curriculum Handwriting Without Tears uses their own brand of short pencils, however, golf pencils work just fine, too. It basically forces kids to pinch with thumb and index finger. Given the tricky nature of pencil holding - and its impact on kids’ handwriting skills - I thought I’d share a few OT-based tricks so you can help kids learn how to hold their pencil correctly.Ī shorter pencil means less space for cramming in unnecessary fingers. However, this can seem virtually impossible when you’re dealing with five- and six-year-olds who don’t even know their left from right, let alone how to divide up their fingers into different positions. Though every child will end up settling on a pencil grip that works best for him or her, introducing the standard “tripod” grasp (pinching with thumb and index finger while resting on middle finger) is a good place to start. Look at the links and take it from there.Pencil grip is one of those things that is really hard to re-teach if kids initially learn it incorrectly. Note: I'm not medically trained and I'm not attempting long-range diagnosis. To try to exercise the required control the whole arm is tensed up, which would show up as a tight grip and heavy pressure. The child finds the fine movements required for writing or drawing difficult and tiring. ![]() It shows up in poor performance in hand-eye tasks like writing and eating, and also in general clumsiness (at one time it was called " clumsy child syndrome"). This is a general problem with coordination. If this occurs in the fingers then it makes gripping a small pencil difficult because the thumb joint flexes backwards, leaving the inner knuckle to take the load instead of the ball of the thumb.ĭyspraxia. Some or all of the joints in the body have a wider range of movement than normal, so more muscle control is required to manage precision movements. Sometimes inaccurately called "double jointed". In addition to Joe's practical answer, this can be a symptom of two wider issues:
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