Learning Pencil Grip

A pediatric occupational therapist from Australia, Ingrid King, has created an adorable lesson on learning the proper pencil grip.  She uses 5 animals to practice several finger movements.  There is a story included to help the children learn the proper pencil grip.  It is a free and you can download it here from Love2LearnandGrow.com. 

Writing Forces and Pencil Grasps

The American Journal of Occupational Therapy published research on the writing forces associated with four pencil grasp patterns in 74 children in grade 4.The students completed a handwriting assessment before and after a copy task and grip and axial forces were measured. The results indicated the following:

• no kinetic differences among grasps, whether considered individually or grouped by the number of fingers on the barrel. 
• when grasps were grouped according to the thumb position, the adducted grasps exhibited higher mean grip and axial forces. 
• Grip forces were generally similar across the different grasps. 
• Kinetic differences resulting from thumb position seemed to have no effect on speed and legibility. 

The researchers concluded that interventions for handwriting difficulties should focus more on speed and letter formation than on grasp patterns.

Reference:  Schwellnus H, Carnahan H, Kushki A, Polatajko H, Missiuna C, Chau T. Writing forces associated with four pencil grasp patterns in grade 4 children. Am J Occup Ther. 2013 Mar;67(2):218-27. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2013.005538.

Pencil Grasp, Legibility and Speed of Handwriting

Recent research completed video analysis on 120 typically developing fourth grade students performing a handwriting task.  The pencil grasps were categorized into six groups (four mature, one immature and one alternating grasp).  Speed and legibility of handwriting was evaluated.  The results indicated that there was no significant effect for mature pencil grasps on speed or legibility.

Reference: Heidi Schwellnus,Heather Carnahan,Azadeh Kushki,Helene Polatajko,Cheryl Missiuna and Tom Chau. Effect of Pencil Grasp on the Speed and Legibility of Handwriting in Children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy November/December 2012 vol. 66 no. 6 718-726. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2012.004515

Pencil Grasp and Handwriting

The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal published research on the effect of pencil grasp on handwriting speed and legibility in 120 fourth grade students after a 10 minute copy task.  A standardized handwriting assessment was completed before and after a 10 minute copy task by typically developing students and students with handwriting issues.

The results indicated decreased legibility after the 10 minute copy task but increased handwriting speed in both groups.  Although there was decreased quality of handwriting, there was no difference among four different pencil grasps.  The dynamic tripod pencil grasp did not provide an advantage over the lateral tripod or the dynamic or lateral quadrupod pencil grasps.

The researchers question the practice of having students adopt the dynamic tripod pencil grasp.

Reference: Heidi Schwellnus, Heather Carnahan, Azadeh Kushki, Helene Polatajko, Cheryl Missiuna and Tom Chau. Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task in Grade 4 children. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal June 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1630.2012.01014.x