Dear Carrie
Question: Is something wrong with my son’s handwriting/penmanship, or is this normal?
My 6 ½ year old son is doing A Reason for Handwriting A with LHFHG (1st grade) with Heart of Dakota. He is loving it! His penmanship is pretty good. We got him a “claw” to help with his pencil grip. It still seems like he is 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. It seems like his body & arm just move further around.
His grip is a little tight, and his hand hurts sometimes.
All that to say, that he doesn’t like handwriting. He will do the work, 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. When I write, my wrist is more flat down on the paper with my fingers out in front.
I’m not sure if there is something actually wrong or not!
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. He is going to need writing stamina if he is going to do dictations in a couple of years, right? So, does this mean I should take him to an occupational therapist? Please help! Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
“Please Tell Me If My Son’s Handwriting Is a Problem or Not”
Dear “Please Tell Me If My Son’s Handwriting Is a Problem or Not,”
Answer: 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. In fact, I have an 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 classroom!
Here are a few thoughts that may help!
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. (Thanks for the picture!) From my perspective, I would definitely get rid of the claw, as it can be tiring and confining to kiddos when 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.
Your son’s handwriting development is normal!
Good news – your son’s handwriting is progressing just as it should! So when he writes, just make sure not to get him thinking that he has a problem area here. When he is building stamina in writing, this is all just a normal part of the writing process. His handwriting is beautiful! Keep up the good work of teaching your son to write!
Blessings,
Carrie
P.S. For pictures showing writing progression, click here!
