occupational therapy for poor handwriting?

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  • September 17, 2010 at 5:20 pm
    kimofthesavages
    Participant

    I have a boy who turned 7 last July. He is very bright and doing well with our schooling except for his handwriting. He has a lot of trouble holding his pencil/crayon/etc correctly. His copywork always looks very messy. I have thought that he just didn’t enjoy it and so wasn’t giving a good effort but yesterday I looked up some information online (trying to find some solution) and now I can see that it is not that he is being lazy but that he has poor fine motor skills. I should have noticed this sooner, I’m sure! My girls never had any problems in this area. So, while researching on this I keep reading that it is very important for a child to get occupational therapy for it because it causes problems in all other areas of acedemics as well. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m thinking that I can just ease off the copywork for awhile and help him with some simple things (like working with playdough, cutting, etc) and wait for his hand muscles to develop more before starting back with copywork. I’m also thinking that because most everything we do is oral that it is not that big a deal that he isn’t writing well? I want to do what is best for him though. Does anyone have any experience and advice??

    September 17, 2010 at 9:01 pm
    Malissa
    Member

    Hi,

    I’m not an OT, but all my kids have worked with OTs from time to time. Plus a good friend of mine is an OT and she continues to give me advice on how to help them. My suggestion is for you to give him more time.  Frequently, especially with boys, their fine motor skills develop slower than girls. In the meantime, continue to work with him using the playdough and cutting. Something else you can do is using either rice or shaving cream (or something like that) have him write his letters that way. But if you do that, be sure to put the rice/shaving cream on a cookie sheet. It can get kind of messy otherwise. Wink But I do agree that you should have him see an OT. It doesn’t hurt to have an evaluation done. But, please use an outside agency, not the school system.  The school system will evaluate for free, however, they will also (assuming that they agree that OT is necessary) push for you to allow them to set him on a school program (called an IEP). Not a headache you need. I’ll be praying for you. 🙂 God Bless!

    Malissa

    September 17, 2010 at 9:28 pm
    MeadowLark
    Member

    Malissa,

    Some of my children have had trouble holding crayons and pencils as well. An O.T. taught me to do this and hopefully it will help you as well.

    Get two large rubberbands. attach them to each other (like a slip knot) Take one part and put it around your sons’ wrist. Then place a pencil or crayon in the other part adding a twist to hold it. When you do this, it should place the writing tool directly in to a snug fit with “it” up to the U shape between thumb and forefinger with him holding the pencil/crayon just before the “sharpened area.” (tell him to hold that like he is pinching it.) Or use triangle shape pencils or crayons to help him with the “pincer” grip.

    That has worked well with all 7 of my kids. Maybe it will help your son as well.

    MeadowLark

    September 18, 2010 at 2:50 am
    Angie
    Participant

    Hello

    I’ve posted on this before.  Not too sure if it’s what MeadowLark is explaining but the hint given to me worked wonders for my son.

    I was having problems with my 6 year-old last year and the way he was holding his pencil also (he’s a leftie and I just couldn’t get him to hold his pencil properly).  Anyway, a friend of mine is an occupational therapist and she showed me a trick — she pulled a pony-tail holder on my son’s wrist, handed my son the pencil, twisted the pony-tail holder above the wrist, and put the pencil thru the hoop that the pony-tail holder created.  The pencil popped into his hand at just the right position.  Hope I explained it okay.  After about two weeks I did not have to use the pony-tail holder anymore as it conditioned his hand to hold the pencil properly.  Just make sure the pony-tail holder is a large one so that it is not too tight on his wrist.

    I hope the explanation is clear…kind of hard to explain and much easier to watch.

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