Handwriting help

[mom24boys]

Hi. Ds6.5 is doing A Reason for Handwriting A with LHFHG (1st grade). His penmanship is pretty good (you can see it in the pictures). We got him a "claw" to help with his pencil grip. It still seems like he is still holding the pencil a little tight, though. I am trying to turn his paper a little more each day (to match his arm), but I don't know that I am actually achieving anything in that department. It seems like his body & arm just move further around.

All that to say, that he doesn't like handwriting. He will do the work (after an "awe mom, I don't like handwriting" ), but he says it hurts his hand. I've limited his writing as long has he tries to do his best. Is his hand hurting normal? Does he just need to build up stamina? He doesn't crook his wrist particularly, but it does seem like he likes to write with his wrist turned up on the side, verses, when I write, my wrist is more flat down on the paper with my fingers out in front.

I'm not sure where to go from here. I want to do something about it if there is something actually wrong, but I'm not sure that there is. I am going to need writing stamina if I am going to do dictations in a couple of years, right? Do I go to an occupational therapist? Will switching curriculums (e.g. using Handwriting without Tears) help us in any way? I don't know that I know how to teach him. Is there anything on the internet that you have found that is helpful?

Thanks for any input. I appreciate the help and support of the wonderful ladies on this board!

[MistyP]

My DD is 6 and she got very frustrated with handwriting; she said it was hard to write that big. I stopped using the handwriting curriculum and have been writing out the copywork on regular notebook paper, leaving space for her to copy it underneath. She is doing much better with that. I told her starting next week I will not write it out anymore and she will have to write it from the actual poem. We will see how that goes.....

I think she just felt frustrated because it was "busy work" to her. This may not be the "best" way but it is what has worked for us..... We will start cursive next year.

[Tracee]

I'm not an expert, but I don't think switching to a different curriculum is going to help. We use Handwriting without Tears, because that is was I was using before we started HOD, and my ds has a strange pencil grip. HWT didn't actually help with his pencil grip.


Tracy

[georgiamomof3]

My ds (6.5) used to complain about handwriting hurting his hand and wrists last year. We worked throughout the week on building up his fine motor skills. It sounds to me like your ds just needs to strengthen his fine motor muscles. Try having him work with playdough (strengthens muscles in wrists and hands), and using the pincher grip to grab small items like beads and transfer them from one cup to another. He could also strengthen those muscles with tweezing, tonging, or lacing. If he likes legos, let him use the tiny pieces, which are awesome for fine muscle control. These are things I put in ds workboxes last year (k) and now he has very nice handwriting and a nice firm (but not tight) pencil grip.

HTH!

[Tree House Academy]

Is this his first year doing a handwriting curriculum? If so, that may be the reason. I started ds7 in a handwriting program when he was just barely 5 and I rememeber him telling me it hurt his hand, etc. I know that, if I write for a long time, sometimes it hurts MY hand! So I am sure it is just pretty normal. Now, my 7 year old has found a new thing to loathe...copy work. LOL But I think if this is your ds' first year with handwriting, what you are seeing is pretty typical.

I will say that I don't worry about handwriting as much as you are seeming to. It is something that will come over time and all kids are different. My older son - they said he had all sorts of handwriting issues when he was in ps. Now, his handwriting is beautful...He writes as good as I do! So, just let him keep writing and it will come. No need to stress over it.

[Tansy]

If its hurting him I would give him some exercises to build up the muscles holding that pencil (it helped w/my dd)
take a medium width rubber band or a couple of thin ones that fit loosely around his fingers when in a grabbing motion. the fingers would be on top and the thumb is tucked in them. Then have him open his hand into a star burst. start him out at 30 seconds then move him up to 1 min a day.

also get a few nuts and bolts in varying sizes, have him hold one bolt in his non dominate hand and use his 3 fingers (that hold pencil) to twist off the nut.
any kind of fine motor control activities done with a purpose will really help him strengthen those muscles which will help him with controlling the pencil and being able to hold the pencil with out fatigue.

when he stop complaining that it hurts you can stop the finger strength training...

[kvmck]

One spelling program I looked at it (that we didn't end up using) gave very detailed instructions about writing comfortably. Two things helped my children a lot. One, make sure they are sitting up high enough--my kids needed to sit on pillows in their chairs in order to make the table the right height. Secondly, give them a stool to put their feet on. Those things made a big difference in fatigue for my kids--once they were at the right height their arms and hands were less strained.

As far as curriculums go.. "happy handwriting" really did make for happy handwriting with one child and "handwriting without tears" did not live up to it's name in our household...

[Carrie]

mom24boys,

The ladies have already given you such good tips. I'll just chime in to say that at age 6 it is not uncommon to have a pretty tight grip on the pencil and to have an incorrect grip. Honestly, in my years of teaching (by the time the kiddos reached third grade) at last half of the class had an incorrect grip. I have a terribly incorrect grip myself, yet my penmanship was and is always fine. If you poll those at your own house to see who holds his/her pencil correctly, you will likely see about the same ratio as what I saw each each year in my mid-upper grade classroom!

I share this to let you know that you are very blessed to have a child whose penmanship is as good as your little honey's writing looks. From my perspective, I would definitely get rid of the claw, as it can be tiring and confining to kiddos as they write. Next, I would simply work toward having your son try to point the top of his pencil eraser toward his body, rather than away from his body as he writes. He can achieve this by drawing his elbow toward his body, which will tilt the pencil toward him a bit more. This will encourage a more traditional hold. I wouldn't focus on the grip continually though, but rather praise his writing, giving gentle hints to pull in his elbow just a bit toward his side as he writes.

Make sure not to get him thinking that he has a problem area here. It is a normal part of the writing process. His handwriting is beautiful!

Blessings,
Carrie

[funkmomma71]

mom24boys,

The ladies have already given you such good tips. I'll just chime in to say that at age 6 it is not uncommon to have a pretty tight grip on the pencil and to have an incorrect grip. Honestly, in my years of teaching (by the time the kiddos reached third grade) at last half of the class had an incorrect grip. I have a terribly incorrect grip myself, yet my penmanship was and is always fine. If you poll those at your own house to see who holds his/her pencil correctly, you will likely see about the same ratio as what I saw each each year in my mid-upper grade classroom!

I share this to let you know that you are very blessed to have a child whose penmanship is as good as your little honey's writing looks. From my perspective, I would definitely get rid of the claw, as it can be tiring and confining to kiddos as they write. Next, I would simply work toward having your son try to point the top of his pencil eraser toward his body, rather than away from his body as he writes. He can achieve this by drawing his elbow toward his body, which will tilt the pencil toward him a bit more. This will encourage a more traditional hold. I wouldn't focus on the grip continually though, but rather praise his writing, giving gentle hints to pull in his elbow just a bit toward his side as he writes.

Make sure not to get him thinking that he has a problem area here. It is a normal part of the writing process. His handwriting is beautiful!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank-you so much for saying this!!! My daughter and I share a funny "grip" and I have been trying to gently correct her grip, but she writes better and says she is more comfortable holding her pencil in her own funny way. I have also tried changing my grip and the results are NOT pretty. LOL I will try some of the other suggestions you made, simply because I feel she would benefit from these small corrections.

[inHistiming]

His handwriting really is beautiful...wish my ds's was as neat! I can't help with the grip issue, as I've wondered myself if my son needs some help with his, but I am very impressed with your ds's writing.

[countrymom]

I don't have time to read the other posts, so forgive me if I am duplicating. Handwriting is definitely something you want to take slow and let them develop the skills. My son's hand hurt when he first started and we backed way off until his hand was not hurting and slowly built up. Truthfully, handwriting is a skill a lot of 6 yr olds are still not developmentally fully ready to do. We have never pushed it with our son and I am noticing this year (Beyond 1/2 speed) he is really starting to build on his skills, both in the amount of work he can produce and the quality. I am still not pushing it at all, we don't finish a poem at even 1/2 speed unless it is short. I also discovered that when I switched to smaller paper, I think it was the 2-3rd grade ruled, he did much better. You could experiment with the size ruled paper you are using also.

[mom24boys]

Thanks so much for the encouragement! We now have a couple ideas to try but it sounds like I should just chill since his handwriting is nice.

I did asked him if he would like to do handwriting first to get it out of the way. He liked this idea. In addition, he said he would rather do 1/2 as much 4 days a week (rather than just T/R) so we are going to try that too. Hopefully that helps. If it only helps his heart, it will be worth it. I'll try to encourage him to point his pencil back towards his body as well.

Thanks so much for the ideas! I'm so glad I have y'all!

[mrsrandolph]

I *might* get rid of the extra eraser on top since it makes the pencil top heavy. By force of physics, this requires a firmer grip on the bottom of the pencil.

Just a thought

[daybreaking]

I am trying to turn his paper a little more each day (to match his arm), but I don't know that I am actually achieving anything in that department. It seems like his body & arm just move further around.

'Just thought I'd mention that Zaner-Bloser actually instructs the child to have the paper directly in front of them (not slanted) when doing manuscript. Only when students start cursive are they instructed to slant the paper. When my ds was 5, I had started him with a slanted paper, but when I read ZB's recommendation, I quickly changed to unslanted and it really helped him.

[mom24boys]

Wow. My son will be psyched if he doesn't have to turn his paper! I think I'll just leave him alone for a while, back off, and see how things go. He likes using the claw so that isn't problem at this point. I'll just have to work on the pointing the pencil back towards his body and take off that eraser! Thanks again everyone!