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Hi,
I've had my daughter use a "winged" grippy to help her not cross over her thumb in holding her pencil for the last 2 years now. She still has a weird pencil grip and crosses over when not using the grippy even after over 2 years of almost constant use.

She's now in 3rd grade (she's 8 years old) and doing cheerful cursive. I began the year having her not use the grippy, but she had such a weird grip that I had her use it again. She hates to write.

At what point do I just give it up and let her have her own pencil grip?
Thanks in advance for the help!
God bless,
Michelle
ps. this is so weird because when she was only 1 and 2 years old she had perfect pencil grip.

I'm wondering the same thing. My daughter used to grip it correctly but has reverted to a strange grip. Her writing is neat but I wish she held her pencil right.

Good question! How many times in a day can I say kindly, "Hold your pencil right. Lightly squeeze with your thumb and first finger and rest on your middle finger?" No answers, just empathy. This is my first child who has really struggled. We have tried the grips too.

We switched from the gripper to Ticonderoga pencils, and that helped. They are bigger in circumference, and sturdy, so they don't snap like clicky pencils. So, that's just an idea to consider.

As far as grip, that is a tough one. This past thread may help...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7480&p=54857

In Christ,
Julie

The Handwriting Without Tears teacher's manual has several exercises and things to look for in a proper pencil grip. But after going through all their stuff, there is a paragraph which basically says "some children settle into a non-standard grip, but as long as they are able to write neatly and control the pencil this is fine." It's good to know there's not just one correct way to hold a pencil!

Maybe her thumb keeps creeping back over because she has been resting it on the grippy all the time she's been using it.

Last year my DD public school kindy teacher had her hold a cotton ball in her hand with her 3 fingers that are supposed to be underneath the pencil, it keeps them in place. It helped my DD although she doesn't like to do it at home!! She also said those 3 fingers were the "kids" & they have to stay in the backseat! Keep trying!!!

we use a claw
http://writingclaw.com/default.aspx

it works... also strengthing the hand muscles help them not have fatigue and keeps the correct grip permanent.

My 3rd grade ds has always crossed over his thumb when writing. He used the "crossover grip" on his pencils for about 1 1/2 years (we also tried the "claw" grip for a while, but he didn't like that one). His handwriting was not improving, and anytime he used a pencil without the grip he would go back to crossing his thumb over. So, I let him try to write without the grip, and his writing was actually better. So, I gave up on correcting his grip. His writing isn't perfect, but when he takes his time it's legible. His cursive is actually a LOT better than I expected it to be, so maybe he'll end up writing in mostly cursive once he is finished learning it.

So, whether it was the right thing to do or not, that's a battle I gave up fighting.