Promoting a Functional Pencil Grasp Tips for Parents and Teachers By Kari Olsen, OTS & Melissa Zepeda, OTS

Grasp The key to a functional grasp is strong hand muscles! The best way to promote a functional pencil grasp in children is to start early by playing fine motor activities that encourage finger strength in order to train their fingers for when they need to manipulate a pencil later.

Developmental Progression of Grasp

The “Tripod” Grasp The Tripod Grasp: Thumb and index finger pinching the writing utensil and the middle finger supporting the underside of the writing utensil (see illustration). The tripod grasp is considered to be the “ideal” handwriting grasp. Although the tripod grasp is promoted by Occupational Therapists, teachers and other education professionals alike, it is NOT the only functional grasp a child could use for handwriting. The type of pencil grasp used has been shown to have no significant effect on handwriting legibility or speed in typically developing children (Schwellnus et al., 2012). If a child’s handwriting is legible and in accordance with that of peers, there is no reason to alter their grasp. Forcing a child to change their grasp can be frustrating and may possibly be counterproductive. Altering a child’s grasp past a certain age (usually 3rd grade), has NOT been shown to increase legibility and might increase the child’s frustration concerning handwriting activities.

Teaching the “Tripod” Grasp When teaching a young child to develop a tripod grasp try these methods: Refer to the tripod grasp as an “alligator bite” (or any other type of bite based on the child’s interests) just keep the story consistent. Hand the child the pencil point first, ask the alligator to bite it and then flip the pencil into the space between the child’s thumb and pointer finger. Keep methods consistent across writing tools to solidify the movement and pattern in the child’s mind.

Preparatory methods Just like stretching before a long run… You can use play-doh, rubber bands, or Theraputty to strengthen a child’s hand muscles, which will help improve grasp (Aldehag, Jonsson & Ansved, 2005). Hiding beads or other small toys in Theraputty or play- doh and having the child search for the items and then hide them again can be a great way to warm up a child’s hands for handwriting activities. If you don’t have those handy, you can also use a rubber band and have the child place the rubber band around their fingers and then open and close their hand

Try These!

Finger Isolation Strengthening the muscles associated with each individual finger can help develop fine motor skills and promote more efficient handwriting.

In-hand Manipulation In-hand manipulation is the ability to move objects within one hand. Developing in-hand manipulation is important for handwriting. Translation: Moving items from palm to fingers and from fingers to palm (example - moving coins from your palm to your fingers). Shift: Moving an object with the fingers in a linear movement (e.g. repositioning a pencil between the fingers). Rotation: Turning an object around between the fingers and thumb. Simple rotation: e.g. Rolling a pencil between the fingers and thumb Complex rotation: e.g. flipping a pencil over to use the eraser

Adaptations Ways to change writing tools, the environment and the expectations, to improve grasp

Ways to Adapt Tools: To encourage a functional grasp add a pencil grip. Weighted grips help with hand tremors and soft grips provide added comfort for kids who have trouble writing for long periods of time. The type of writing utensil used can also change grasp pattern. Shorter writing utensils such as golf pencils or broken crayons give the child less area to sustain a less than optimal grip. Adaptive pencils such as the Twist n’ Write can force a child’s fingers into an optimal position.

Ways to Adapt Environment: Having the child perform handwriting activities on a vertical surface such as a whiteboard or chalkboard forces the child’s wrist into an optimal handwriting position. When used often, their wrist will get used to this position for handwriting tasks on desks and tables. Expectations: Handwriting can be extremely frustrating for children. Even though handwriting is second nature to us as adults, utilizing fine motor control for a child is tough. Make sure to be encouraging, make handwriting activities fun and don’t do handwriting activities for too long.

Stereognosis Stereognosis is the ability to perceive what an object is using touch. Stereognosis and tactile discrimination in the hands can have an effect on handwriting legibility (Cox, Harris, Auld, & Johnston, 2015). Ways to improve stereognosis: Use a visual barrier (e.g. towel, blanket, t-shirt) to block the child’s vision when performing fine motor tasks. Stereognosis Activity Idea: Put small, familiar items in a jar. Cover the jar with paper, cloth, or a sock. Have the child feel the items in the jar and guess what they are based on touch. Source: http://therapyfunzone.net/blog/tag/stere ognosis/

Ideas for activities! Toy Ideas Encourage the use of toys that have small pieces to manipulate. Use toys to strengthen the muscles of the hand, such as play dough, silly putty, clothespins, stress balls, lacing toys, etc. www.montessoriservices.com alphamom.com differentiatedkindergarten.com differentiatedkindergarten.com heapsoflaundry.blogspot.ca

Game Ideas! Use games with small pieces. Examples: marbles, Chinese checkers, Don’t Spill the Beans, Cootie, Kerplunk, Hi Ho Cherry-O, cards, dominoes, mancala

More Activity Ideas Learning4kids.net

References Aldehag, A., Jonsson, H., & Ansved, T. (2005). Effects of a hand training programme in five patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. Occupational Therapy International, 12(1), 14-27. Cox, L. E., Harris, E. C., Auld, M. L., & Johnston, L. M. (2015). Impact of tactile function on upper limb motor function in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 45-46, 373-383. Schwellnus, H., Carnahan, H., Kushki, A., Polatajko, H., Missiuna, C., & Chau, T. (2012). Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting in children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66, 718–726. http://dx.doi. org/10.5014/ajot.2012.004515

Additional Resources Stereognosis - http://therapyfunzone.net/blog/tag/stereognosis/ Pinterest - Search “Fine Motor Activities” Theraputty https://www.stjude.org/content/dam/en_US/shared/www/patient-support/do-you- knows/theraputty.pdf Toys - http://www.melissaanddoug.com & https://funandfunction.com/therapist-picks.html