Encourage your child to do lots of fun and interesting drawing and writing activities using different types of pens, coloured pencils, crayons and chalks so they are motivated to practice. Here is an OT tip just for you! Create a pencil grip kit as pictured below. This will serve you coordinate an approach to determining the best pencil grip for any learner. You will have children that the typical grip will not work for, and you’ll need that one rarely used grip just for them! Have it on hand! Finally, we’ll cover a variety of related resources and activities to support the development of pencil grip use. This is based on many factors including; their current skill level, motivation, and understanding that the pencil grasp should be efficient and effective, but NOT perfect.

Pencil grips are designed to support the most functional and efficient pencil grasp a child can achieve. In this blog post, we’ll dive into pencil grips occupational therapy practitioners may offer as a tool to support handwriting needs. Before we get into the various types of pencil grips you may see an occupational therapy practitioner recommend, it’s important to cover functional pencil grip. A pencil grip may be a tool provided to support a functional pencil grasp, depending on the needs of the individual student.This stages of pencil grip poster can be used to help teachers or parents become familiar with the different stages of pencil grip. The poster outlines what each child should be able to do at different ages. The poster starts at 1 years old and works its way up to 7 years old. For those struggling to manipulate, use, position, and write with a pencil grip during written output, sometimes an alternative grip is the answer. One final note on the use of pencil grips, they WILL be uncomfortable to use at first. Learners are having to utilize the correct finger and hand muscles.

Think of pencil grips as a supplemental tool to aid a child as they continue to work on building the hand and finger skills needed to achieve an independent and efficient grasp. Functional grasps have a few basic components, which include; an open web space, skill fingers holding the pencil (thumb, first, and middle fingers), and stability (achieved with the ring and little fingers being curled securely into the palm). This results in an efficient and functional tripod grasp for the most success with handwriting, drawing, and coloring. To meet the needs of the individual student, a pencil grip may be supplied as a tool to support those individual needs. Rest assured, the use of the right pencil grip, when coupled with the activities you are using to get to the root of the problem, will help.Most children naturally develop a pencil grasp that is comfortable for them and a variety of different grasps can be seen in any classroom. A pencil grasp only becomes a problem if the child complains of fatigue, pain in their hand, or has difficulty writing neatly and at a reasonable speed (as compared to their peers). In occupational therapy sessions, the OT practitioner is striving to achieve the most effective and functional pencil grasp for each individual. A therapist may have 40, 50, or even 70 students on their school-based OT caseload…and each student will be completely different when it comes to grasp patterns, pencil pressure, positioning of the fingers, preferences, letter formation strokes, executive functioning skills, self-regulation, visual motor skills, sensory preferences, and handwriting considerations. All of these areas play into handwriting. They are not used to using them in this way, therefore they will be uncomfortable and met with resistance. With this discomfort comes less motivation and desire to use. In the adaptive tripod grasp, the child places the pencil between the index and middle fingers rather than within the traditional web space. They grasp the pencil shaft with the thumb, index, and middle fingers. The placement of the pencil between the index and middle fingers provides ample support and stability allowing for good pencil control, and less hand and finger fatigue.

Using this stages of pencil grip poster will help you to see what stage each child is at. You can then spot children who may need some extra help with their pencil grip. You could then try out different methods, like trying different pencils that might be easier to grip. Some children develop their fine motor skills at different stages. So, we have developed two posters, one with ages and one without. This can be especially useful when you are working with children with SEN. Explore the other blog posts we have here at The OT Toolbox regarding pencil grasps by reviewing the convenient list of these just for you:

Closed Cell Foam Tubing

Play dough / Theraputty– rolling, pinching, squeezing, pulling – encouraging him to squeeze together using one hand, retrieving pegs, small objects and placing into a container. Use a rolling pin to roll playdoh flat and cut out shapes using biscuit or animal cutters. Using pegs for learning games e.g sums on the pegs and attach to the correct card, or place the number of pegs on the card, colour match pegs with cards, place words onto pegs and use the too clip onto card to make a sentence, follow a sequence pegging the pattern along the line using pegs to secure it. An awkward or unusual pencil grasp becomes more difficult to change as a child gets older; therefore it is important to encourage your child to hold their pencil with a grasp that: The Adaptive Tripod Grip is appropriate to use when low muscle tone or hyper mobility of the finger joints limits pinching and manipulating the pencil.

It is easy to achieve, and I often use it if I am writing a lot. My husband uses it all of the time, and has since grade school. Be patient, encouraging, and rewarding to your learners, as they work on these skills. A good grasping pattern will be essential later in school, as handwriting tasks become longer and more complex. You are supporting their present AND future success! Pencil Grip Kit If a child isn't progressing as they should be, then holding a pencil incorrectly could cause them strain when they are writing. Make sure to keep an eye on children's pencil grip and help them if they are not progressing as they should be. What are the different stages of pencil grip? First, let me begin by saying that pencil grips are NOT a miracle cure for pencil grasp. They can help in certain circumstances based on the child’s individual needs.

Now, without further ado, let’s proceed to types of pencil grips that most OTs recommend, what their purpose is, and why they are recommended! Please also see out pencil skills advice sheet for further activity ideas and out fine motor skill advice sheet.