Teaching Handwriting and

Correct Pencil Grip

1-Teaching the Correct Pencil Grip
What is “Fine Motor Skills” ?
It is the coordination of small muscles in movements—
usually involving the synchronization of hands and fingers—
with the eyes.
When?
 Children start to use their hands right at birth to explore
their own bodies and the world around them. Their fine
motor skills develop as their whole body starts to move
and become more stable.  They also learn to do more
things with their hands as their cognitive and
social/emotional skills develops.

 A child will first start developing postural control,

shoulder stability, arm strength, wrist stability, hand
strength then finger strength and manipulation. All of
these abilities are required in order to develop a good
pencil grasp.
 Developmental stages
1-2 years old: Fisted grip : Children often hold
their writing tool like a dagger, scribbling using
their whole arm.

2-3 years old: Digital Pronate grip. All fingers are holding

the writing tool but the wrist is turned so that the palm is
facing down towards the page.

3-4 years old:  4 finger grip. 4 fingers are held on the

writing tool, beginning to form the arc between the thumb
and index finger .

4-6 years old: Tripod grip. This is a 3 finger grasp, where the

thumb, index finger and middle finger work as one unit.
Correct Posture
Teaching Tools
Teaching Tools
Teaching Tools
 Take Every Step At Its Time.

 While it’s important to start encouraging the correct pencil grip at a

young age,  it’s important to be aware that you are encouraging the
correct age-appropriate grip. Getting a 3 year old to use a tripod grip
when their muscles aren’t developed enough will only result in them
using an awkward version of the grip and these incorrect habits are
hard to correct over time. However, you can support the
development of their pencil grips by developing the underlying skills.
2. Teaching Handwriting
ACTIVITY

In Pairs Please discuss ..Why is teaching handwriting

important?
ACTIVITY

In pairs please discuss the importance of teaching

handwriting?
 Important, and convenient way for students to engage in writing in
the classroom and at home.
 Plays a foundational role in writing.
 Promotes continued growth of related writing abilities like spelling
and sentence construction problems (Datchuk, 2015).
 Handwriting problems can negatively affect the writing of students,
it could decrease the amount of writing output an individual creates
and readers can struggle to interpret the message as intended.
 It has been found that writing letters by hand activated areas of
the brain known as the reading circuit.
What is letter formation?
Letter formation is the ability to form letters of the
alphabet correctly that conform to a cultural standard e.g.
as taught in a particular school. Letter formation is very
important as it is needed in order to become an efficient
writer.
 Types of Handwriting
 Printing :
 Introduced in kindergarten through grade two
 Printing is handwriting in which the letters are formed
separately and not joined together. The printed
alphabet is characterized by round upright letters that
look like typing (Graham, 2010).
 Cursive:
 Introduced in grade two or three. The letters are
joined, each letter must contain a leader that could
connect to a previous letter and a trailing part that
could connect to the next (Berninger et al., 2006)
 Cursive
Printing
Joining cursive letters
Correct Letter Formation
Correct Letter Formation
Teacher’ s Tools
Trace/ Write
Teacher’ s Tools
Trace/ Write
Sort the letters game:
1
2
3
4
Teacher’ s Tools
Sing/Act
Research fact
 It has been found that more positive evaluations of nicely handwritten
pieces were not associated with how nice the writing looked, but
rather the fluency associated with processing legible versus (Dinehart,
2015).
 Methods of Instruction

 In addition to grouping letters, it is suggested that the number of

newly introduced or reviewed letters per lesson to be kept to two
to three letters, to ensure students have the chance to become
familiar with each letter and to build accuracy and speed (Graham,
Harris & Fink, 2000).

 Some research recommends teaching letters with similar shapes

(e.g., b and d, u and n) during different lessons to try and reduce
possible confusion and letter formation errors, like reversals
(Datchuk, 2015).

 Research suggests that during kindergarten through grade

three handwriting should be taught in short sessions several
times a week (or daily), totaling 50 to 100 minutes per week of
instruction time (Graham, Harris & Fink, 2000).
How to avoid reversals ( Mirror effect)?

1. Avoid teaching them together

2. Teach directionality.
3. Use visuals and memory games
4. Model the perfect formation
5. Practice….practice
Dysgraphia
The word dysgraphia comes from the Greek words dys meaning "impaired"
and  graphía meaning "writing by hand.

It is a deficiency in the ability to write. Dysgraphia is a biologically based

disorder with genetic and brain bases. More specifically, it is a memory problem.
In dysgraphia, individuals fail to develop normal connections among different
brain regions needed for writing,

Dysgraphia is characterized as a learning disability  in the category of written

expression when one's writing skills are below expectations regarding a person's
age and developmental stage.
Symptoms
•Cramping of fingers while writing short entries
•Odd wrist, arm, body, or paper orientations such as bending an arm into an L
shape
•Excessive erasures
•Mixed upper case and lower case letters
•Inconsistent form and size of letters, or unfinished letters
•Misuse of lines and margins
•Inefficient speed of copying
•Inattentiveness over details when writing
•Frequent need of verbal cues
•Relies heavily on vision to write
•Difficulty visualizing letter formation beforehand
•Poor spatial planning on paper
•Difficulty writing and thinking at the same time (creative writing, taking notes)
•Handwriting abilities that may interfere with spelling and written composition
•Having a hard time translating ideas to writing, sometimes using the wrong words
altogether
Sample of Dysgraphia
Treatment
- The use of occupational therapy can be effective in the school setting, and
teachers should be well informed about dysgraphia to aid in carry-over of
the occupational therapist's interventions.

- Some physicians recommend that individuals with dysgraphia use

computers to avoid the problems of handwriting.

- Dysgraphia can sometimes be partially overcome with appropriate and

conscious effort and training. The use of kinesthetic memory through early
training by having the child overlearn how to write letters and to later
practice writing with their eyes closed or averted to reinforce the feel of the
letters being written.
- They also suggest teaching the students cursive writing as it has fewer
reversible letters and can help lessen spacing problems, at least within
words, because cursive letters are generally attached within a word.
Riddle time

My letter goes round and round

My letter is tall, it looks like a straight

line with a moustache

My letter is a tall letter with a big fat

belly

I am a short letter that is curvy and

sleek
Riddle time

I am a hanging down letter that is

always asking questions

I am a tall letter with one kicking arm

and one kicking feet
THANK YOU