problem with pencil holding

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I am currently teaching a 5yr old child who is autistic,partially blind,has cerebal palsy and other mental health issues. She is bright,loving funny and also VERY un -predictable with frequent violent outbursts. I think a lot of it is down to frustration. I have taught her the alphabet and how to spell her name, which she does on a keyboard. However, she can not hold a pencil because of the lack of control whilst trying to grasp. Does anyone know if there is anything available which would help, say a finger sheath which holds the pencil? she loves to colour, but due to this problem she keeps dropping the crayons and gets upset. Thanks for any advise.

There are numerous types of pencil grips available.

Hi. My son was just diagnosed with mild Asperger's. He is 4 (5 this summer), and his teacher has commented several times on the fact that he does not hold his pencil properly. His handwriting isn't that bad, and he seems to have good control when drawing and writing. The teacher said isn't a big deal to her but that they are real sticklers about it in kindergarten. I try to work with him at home also. He will do it "right" for a while but always reverts back to his way of holding it. I would be interested in hearing everyone's suggestions also.

Depending on the cause of the issue, different sizes, grips, and even finger braces might help. But, honestly, it seems to me easiest for the child to turn to keyboarding and mouse driven software programs. Holding a pencil still hurts my son's hands, despite years of OT. They basically told us keyboarding was the answer, and graduated him from school provided OT once he could type at a decent speed.

I do wonder if more could have been done, so I would not suggest giving up, but realize that there isn't an obvious or simple solution. Have her squeeze balls and toys to build up strength, and experiment with different types of implements, so that she has a chance to get comfortable and at least advance as far as she can within her own limitations.

Thanks all for your response,it does seem that the keyboard is the answer for now atleast, she loves colouring with bright crayons I am going to check out the pencil grips and braces.She has OCT and involves lots of hand grasping.

given the mutliple diagnoses, and the desire, have you thought about velcro? You could get some sticky back velcro, attach some to her crayons, and some to whatever grasping device the ot recommends. You could even velcro the gloves.
Velcro will not solve the problem, but it may allow her to hold the crayon so she can color now.
good luck.

Velcro, what a brilliant idea, many thanks for that, I'm going to give it a try.

Hearing how teachers give-up on students really makes me angry, and I've had personal experiences with it, and have seen it a lot.
Please, PLEASE do not give up on teaching your children a skill just because it seems difficult. I know that's not really the case here, but that is what can end up happening, especially since schools get paid to keep children in special programs and they will do it even if it's not needed. To people like us with sensory issues, everything is painful, so that's just one of the things we have to face, and we cant avoid everything.
When I was growing up, there were a lot of kids with special needs, and physically more unfortunate than I. One of the boys' hands and legs were each fused together; a girl's skin fused her fingers and toes, and she looked as if she was burned all the time-- both born that way. These people were taught how to write along with the rest of us, and they succeeded. They may have needed some modifications like special grips, but they did it.
My cousin is not bright at all, and I dont think there is much wrong with him other than circumstance, and yet the same school system has become lazy-- he refused to follow directions is his big problem. They wont teach him to write, and instead want him to type. I heard they are doing this with a lot of the children; of course his mother was angry. He can not even write his own name clearly!
When I hear stories that might follow the same path, I really feel like someone needs to get in the school and teachers faces about it. They need to do their job, and if they can not, then hire new teachers.

How about a paintbrush. Paint brushes can be much thicker, and with a wide enough backdrop, it could be do- able.

I think starting with a pencil or crayon might be pushing too far. Painting - even finger painting - might be a better start. You might experience more success with grip, and it would work the muscles, be able to build them up.

Another thing, which we did with my son when he was first starting out, was to draw in sand or rice with just his finger.

It just shows the child that she CAN make the letters. It's just her fingers that need strengthening.

There's also the brain-finger pathways that need to be formed. Repetition and practice is the key for that.

Give it some time, and a lot of practice. If she's having tantrums learn to learn her signals of fatigue and frustration and keep the exercises short to avoid them. Pushing too long will only exhaust her and hurt her self esteem when she can't perform as long/much as you hope she will.

There are some pencils and crayons that are much thicker and easier for little hands to grab. Maybe that would help? My second son has trouble with fine motor skills and preferred chunky crayons much better.

I also wouldn't worry too much about not holding the pencil in the official "tripod grip". The official way controls the pencil with thumb, index finger and middle finger, I steer it with index finger only. Worked just fine for me in schools and art classes. I don't think there's only one way to hold pencils. As long as it works for her that's OK.

http://drawsketch.about.com/od/learntod ... pencil.htm Here's a link with pictures showing a few common ways of holding the pencil. My way is most like the "underhand grip", except more relaxed than that. I think part of the reason is I have hyper-flexible joints on all my fingers (even my thumbs can bend backward), my "tripod grip" would collapse if I put any pressure on it. My way of pencil grip put the pressure on part of my hand that's firm and sturdy, gives me much better control.

You might want to try Twist 'n Write PenAgain Pencils which may be easier to handle.

You can see what they look like at http://www.amazon.com/TWIST-WRITE-PENAG ... B000XHNQ4C