Ideas for preventing sore hands when writing!

April 24th, 2008

So many of my pupils press so hard on the pencil that their hands and sometimes their entire arms get very sore very quickly.

Although I do find that this goes away eventually …

Here are some ideas to help prevent this

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• First check what happens when the kid draws. Often s/he can draw for ages without getting a sore hand. If this is the case then analyse how s/he holds the pencil differently when drawing and try to copy this when writing.
• A good way of improving handwriting – and I am aware that most parents and teachers do not believe this until they have seen it happen (but it does work)….is to change from handwriting to word processing.
This way spelling is helped and you don’t have to panic so much about what is being written or making mistakes. Once the kid has more confidence with his spelling and what s/he is writing s/he will press less hard.
• Use a penicil grip. If you cannot get hold of one then merely wrap a rubber band round and round the bottom on the pencil. This helps prevent the pencil from slipping through the fingers.
• Try using pens or pencils that break when you press too hard. The pencils with the replaceable leads do tis as do some felt tip pens. If s/he presses too hard the pen is ruined.
• Ensure that s/he is resting his/her hand on the paper when writing. Sometimes kids don’t do this and then they lose motor control.
• I find this works quite well because it rewards the kid when he presses less hard.
Give him/her a writing pad to use and after he has written something look forward in the pad and count the number of pages that have been indented by the writing. This could be 3 or 4 or sometimes even more. Make a note of this and draw up a chart and give him/her a sticker every time his/her writing indents fewer pages than this. So s/he gets a sticker every time s/he presses less hard.

Entry Filed under: Dyslexia,General