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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Do you need a pencil grip? Why?

Do you know what is a pencil grip? Not the way of you holding the pencil but the tools that actually help you to hold the pencil properly...

You would probably think 'why do you need a tool to hold a pencil?'

As younger kids (I would say pre-k or earlier) are demanded to write at such a young age, they obviously start writing with their immature hands.  Or on the other hand, kids never experienced proper writing or holding a pencil before schooling, then they will have difficulty writing and/or holding pencil when they start school.

I'm not saying all kids are not ready for writing at this age.  I am trying to say that their tiny hands are still developing.  And some kids can struggle with holding the pencil and/or writing, which is "normal".

I have a three-year-old boy at home who goes to a nursery school while I am working with other kids in school.  He recently started tracing letters at the school.  I have noticed that he tries to hold the pencil in different ways.  It seems that he did not figure out the proper way or the most comfortable way of holding the pencil yet.  We will see.

This is what I think...(when I think of typically developing kids or kids with mild development delays)
Pencil grips are surely helpful.  But not all the pencil grips are good for my child.  Before you try to give any pencil grip to your child, try to teach your child the proper way of holding the pencil verbally and with your demonstration.  Give some time to your child and see if she/he tries to follow directions.  You can let your child struggle a little bit (with your supervision).  You know struggling is a learning process.  Kids may like to use a pencil grip because it looks cool.  Long term goal will be writing without a tool.  One more thing! Before you give a pencil grip to your child, try to use it and see what it does and how you feel on your hand.  Think of the size difference between your hand and child's hand.  Then start the process.  Don't forget to observe how your child using it.  FYI, I like to use a pencil grip sometimes.  It just feels different!  I believe the most important thing is that we make the writing the fun, enjoyable, and exciting activity for kids.  If the pencil grips are the tools to make the writing cool experience, WHY NOT!
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