Help with the correct pencil grip...
Sometimes, teaching a child how to hold a pencil seems harder than it would be to create this work of art.
I had a little bit of trouble teaching my girls how to hold a pencil properly, but it wasn't too painful. In our spelling/reading/writing curriculum when they were beginning readers (Spell to Write and Read), there was an instructional paragraph and a diagram of how to help children learn how to hold the pencil correctly, and I found that helpful.
One of my girls was poor at fine motor skills, but she really liked to write and draw at a young age, and she was very eager about learning how to read.
The other daughter was average with her fine motor skills, but she really did not like to write, although drawing was fine with her.
It's not that a child can't write well with an improper pencil grip...it's just that the likelihood of that child not enjoying writing is much higher. Their fingers, hands, and wrists easily get tired and cause them to not want to practice handwriting skills or to write lengthier paragraphs.
Also, when a child has a confident and comfortable pencil grip, he or she will generally have the tendency to write neater than if he or she did not.
I can't promise that my children have a "perfect" pencil grip. It's not exactly like it you'll see it in the videos below. But it's pretty close!
One thing I did do correctly when the girls were just learning to write was that I recognized that Kelsi (daughter #1) had very poor fine motor skills. She literally could not write in manuscript print. Even though her mental and verbal skills were advanced, she had a lot of difficulty holding pencils, markers, and crayons and trying to use them well. Manuscript printing requires the writer to pick up and put down his or her pencil tip frequently, and this creates a problem with transitioning from one letter to the next, and in writing step-by-step within individual letters.
Kelsi also had a visual tracking disorder, which made writing a bit more difficult for her. I have the same visual problem. While it took Kelsi and I a tad bit longer to learn how to blend letters and phonograms together using an excellent reading program, we did catch on. (I was taught to read using a method very similar to Spell to Write and Read when I was a child.) Fortunately, her tracking disorder was not severe enough to require vision therapy.
When she started the first grade, I began using an old-fashioned technique that I had heard from a lot of people in their
60s,
70s,
80s,
and 90s:
Teach cursive first.
What? Are you crazy?
I had a little bit of trouble teaching my girls how to hold a pencil properly, but it wasn't too painful. In our spelling/reading/writing curriculum when they were beginning readers (Spell to Write and Read), there was an instructional paragraph and a diagram of how to help children learn how to hold the pencil correctly, and I found that helpful.
One of my girls was poor at fine motor skills, but she really liked to write and draw at a young age, and she was very eager about learning how to read.
The other daughter was average with her fine motor skills, but she really did not like to write, although drawing was fine with her.
It's not that a child can't write well with an improper pencil grip...it's just that the likelihood of that child not enjoying writing is much higher. Their fingers, hands, and wrists easily get tired and cause them to not want to practice handwriting skills or to write lengthier paragraphs.
Also, when a child has a confident and comfortable pencil grip, he or she will generally have the tendency to write neater than if he or she did not.
I can't promise that my children have a "perfect" pencil grip. It's not exactly like it you'll see it in the videos below. But it's pretty close!
One thing I did do correctly when the girls were just learning to write was that I recognized that Kelsi (daughter #1) had very poor fine motor skills. She literally could not write in manuscript print. Even though her mental and verbal skills were advanced, she had a lot of difficulty holding pencils, markers, and crayons and trying to use them well. Manuscript printing requires the writer to pick up and put down his or her pencil tip frequently, and this creates a problem with transitioning from one letter to the next, and in writing step-by-step within individual letters.
Kelsi also had a visual tracking disorder, which made writing a bit more difficult for her. I have the same visual problem. While it took Kelsi and I a tad bit longer to learn how to blend letters and phonograms together using an excellent reading program, we did catch on. (I was taught to read using a method very similar to Spell to Write and Read when I was a child.) Fortunately, her tracking disorder was not severe enough to require vision therapy.
When she started the first grade, I began using an old-fashioned technique that I had heard from a lot of people in their
60s,
70s,
80s,
and 90s:
Teach cursive first.
What? Are you crazy?
Over the years, I have spoken with many older and wiser people who have told me that when they attended public schools in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, they were taught to write using cursive first. Later, when their cursive handwriting was legible and neat, they were taught how to print for the purpose of writing on diagrams, posters, and science labs.
I know that some Americans in that era did learn to print first. Some of them probably grew up in the more "progressive" states like California and New York, which were some of the first states to experiment with "new fangled" ideas in education.
From what I've been able to learn, though, many people in the world were taught to write using cursive handwriting first.
Since the author of the reading/spelling/writing program we used (Mrs. Wanda Sanseri) also recommended to me in one of her classes that we teach our children cursive before manuscript, I decided to give it a try.
One of Mrs. Sanseri's trainers who teaches classes on Spell to Write and Read designed a handwriting program that teaches cursive handwriting - first.
It is aptly named:
I know that some Americans in that era did learn to print first. Some of them probably grew up in the more "progressive" states like California and New York, which were some of the first states to experiment with "new fangled" ideas in education.
From what I've been able to learn, though, many people in the world were taught to write using cursive handwriting first.
Since the author of the reading/spelling/writing program we used (Mrs. Wanda Sanseri) also recommended to me in one of her classes that we teach our children cursive before manuscript, I decided to give it a try.
One of Mrs. Sanseri's trainers who teaches classes on Spell to Write and Read designed a handwriting program that teaches cursive handwriting - first.
It is aptly named:
I hesitatingly began using Cursive First to teach Kelsi cursive handwriting. It made me nervous. How was she going to be able to make loops and tails if she struggled to write small, straight lines?
I shouldn't have been concerned. Amazingly, within three weeks, her cursive handwriting was at the fourth grade level, about where a child would be if she had been writing in cursive for one full year.
I saw someone mention on the internet that those people who have weaker fine motor skills might not do well with Cursive First because it uses lines of smaller height to practice the cursive skills. I didn't find that to be a problem with Kelsi. Because the lines were shorter, more like college-lined paper, she could focus on actually writing the letters instead of trying to "draw" the letters. There's a big difference. I definitely wanted her to learn how to write the letters. If she had used 5/8" lined paper to practice her cursive lettering, she would have actually been drawing the letters instead.
Three months later, her cursive handwriting was as nice as a jr. high student who had neat cursive writing.
One year later, her cursive handwriting was as beautiful as an adult who wrote neatly in cursive.
I shouldn't have been concerned. Amazingly, within three weeks, her cursive handwriting was at the fourth grade level, about where a child would be if she had been writing in cursive for one full year.
I saw someone mention on the internet that those people who have weaker fine motor skills might not do well with Cursive First because it uses lines of smaller height to practice the cursive skills. I didn't find that to be a problem with Kelsi. Because the lines were shorter, more like college-lined paper, she could focus on actually writing the letters instead of trying to "draw" the letters. There's a big difference. I definitely wanted her to learn how to write the letters. If she had used 5/8" lined paper to practice her cursive lettering, she would have actually been drawing the letters instead.
Three months later, her cursive handwriting was as nice as a jr. high student who had neat cursive writing.
One year later, her cursive handwriting was as beautiful as an adult who wrote neatly in cursive.
I'm not bragging about my child at all.
Really.
I'm just amazed at the miracle that transformed my daughter. I'm so thankful that the Lord helped me be open-minded about trying something new if the old technique wasn't working well.
After a couple of years using cursive handwriting, Kelsi wanted to begin learning printing.
This time, she was ready for it - and so were her fine motor skills!
It find it interesting that Kelsi really enjoys most fine motor activities now, and she does them well. In fact, fine motor skills are her strength. She enjoys hand sewing, cross stitching and embroidery, typing, drawing, and painting.
All from a child who, at the age of 6, could barely hang onto a pencil.
If your child, no matter what age, is struggling with holding a pencil correctly, I would suggest that you consider focusing on this and correcting it.
It may be painful; it may not be pretty. But I do think it is important to at least make this a big priority in your child's life.
If I had been able to watch this video when my girls were young, I would have had more confidence in explaining the pencil grip in a way that made sense to them.
I hope you will find this video useful for your own children or grandchildren, or perhaps a child in your neighborhood or at your church.
Really.
I'm just amazed at the miracle that transformed my daughter. I'm so thankful that the Lord helped me be open-minded about trying something new if the old technique wasn't working well.
After a couple of years using cursive handwriting, Kelsi wanted to begin learning printing.
This time, she was ready for it - and so were her fine motor skills!
It find it interesting that Kelsi really enjoys most fine motor activities now, and she does them well. In fact, fine motor skills are her strength. She enjoys hand sewing, cross stitching and embroidery, typing, drawing, and painting.
All from a child who, at the age of 6, could barely hang onto a pencil.
If your child, no matter what age, is struggling with holding a pencil correctly, I would suggest that you consider focusing on this and correcting it.
It may be painful; it may not be pretty. But I do think it is important to at least make this a big priority in your child's life.
If I had been able to watch this video when my girls were young, I would have had more confidence in explaining the pencil grip in a way that made sense to them.
I hope you will find this video useful for your own children or grandchildren, or perhaps a child in your neighborhood or at your church.
