All About Pencil Grasp:
Essential Tips & FAQ

Teachers and parents often ask me about using commercial pencil grippers for kids.

My honest answer? Issuing a pencil grip without addressing the underlying fine motor issues is like putting a sticky plaster on a festering wound. It might cover the problem, but it doesn't heal it.

I've seen so many children contort their fingers around the pencil gripper itself! They simply adapt their poor pencil grip to the new shape.

However, that doesn't mean I avoid using pencil grippers. They can be a helpful tool if they are used as part of a larger plan to build hand strength.

If your child is doing hand-strengthening activities and a specific grip helps them control the pencil better, then it can be a useful aid. Sometimes, simply switching to a thick triangular pencil can make a world of difference without needing a separate grip.

But you can check out my reviews of different pencil grippers if you think this may help your child. 

A mom once told me she felt like it was "cheating" to let her son use a marker instead of a pencil - he had a weak pencil grip owing to fine motor difficulties.

Let me be clear: it is absolutely not cheating! If using a tool like a thick marker allows your child to form letters and feel a sense of accomplishment, it's a wonderful strategy. It boosts morale and allows them to focus on the task of learning to write, not the struggle of making legible marks.

How to Help Kids With "Weak" Pencil Grips

• Build Hand Strength: The long-term solution is to build hand strength. Squeezing playdough, playing with water squeeze toys in the bath, and using a spray bottle to water plants are all fun ways to do this. Check out my easy hand strengthening exercises you can do at home!
• Encourage Pressure: Give your child activities where they have to press hard. Crayon rubbings are perfect for this. Place a leaf, a coin, or a rubbing plate under a piece of paper and have them rub over it with the side of a crayon to make the image appear.
• Use Other Ways To Write: if your child needs to master letter formations, spelling or any other "practice" work, then try these fun ways to practice writing without a pencil - this helps kids focus on the technique and not on controlling a pencil

If your child still struggles even after trying these suggestions, please consult your health professional!

A parent once told me her almost 9-year-old had reverted to holding her pencil in a fist, especially when starting cursive.

When this happens, some detective work is needed! An older child reverting to an immature grasp is usually a sign that something is amiss. Here are some questions I would ask: 

• Is it fatigue? Are their hand muscles tiring out from the demands of writing?
• Is it stress? Is the pressure of a new task, like learning cursive, causing them to tense up and revert to what feels "strongest"?
• Are there emotional factors? Is a younger sibling getting attention for their cute, fisted grasp?

How to Help:

• Go Back to Basics: Start every writing session with a few minutes of hand-strengthening exercises. Try these fine motor ideas for older kids
• Change the Tool: Try going back to a thicker, triangular pencil. Even older kids find them more comfortable and less fatiguing. You can also try a large pencil gripper like The pencil grip to reduce hand fatigue.
• Try an Alternative Grip: For children who struggle with fatigue, many have found success with the adapted tripod grasp (also called the "Monk's Grasp"). This is where the pencil is held between the index and middle fingers. It's much less tiring for many people and can be a fantastic functional alternative.

If you've tried these strategies and are still concerned about your child's poor pencil grip, please seek an occupational therapy evaluation.

We want all our kids to have a functional pencil grip which will allow hand and finger muscles to move freely (although some grips are better at this than others). 

But just telling your child to “hold the pencil better” is NOT going to help! We need to address some of the reasons your child has a poor grip in the first place!

Here are some strategies to try:

• To counteract fatigue, help your child to work on hand and finger strength and dexterity.
• If you have been working on hand and finger strength, you can then try out a variety of pencils and pencil grippers to try and increase your child's comfort while writing.
• I also recommend an occupational therapy assessment to help figure out WHY your child is holding the pencil so badly, and then you and the OT can make a plan to work on the skills that are missing.

If your child has a weird pencil grip, but currently seems to be keeping up with classwork, and has neat handwriting, then my recommendation is that you keep a careful eye out for hand fatigue and deteriorating work (especially as the writing load increases)

This is such an understandable question. Many adults today have an awkward or inefficient pencil grip and feel they are doing just fine! So, it's natural to wonder if a poor pencil grip is truly a problem that needs fixing with expensive occupational therapy!

The answer is: it depends. The goal is not a "perfect" grip, but a **functional pencil grip**. If a child's grip, no matter how it looks, allows them to write without pain, fatigue, or falling behind, then it *may* not be an issue.

*However*, an inefficient grip that was manageable 20 years ago might cause significant problems for a child in today's pressured classroom.

Here are the long-term effects we often see when a truly problematic pencil grip isn't addressed:

1. Pain and Fatigue: To make up for weak finger muscles, a child might tense their neck and shoulder muscles or use their whole wrist to write. In the long run, these compensations can result in a sore neck, a tired hand, and an aversion to writing.
2. Slow Handwriting Speed: An inefficient grip can make it very difficult to keep up. This becomes a major issue when needing to take notes quickly, and finish essays and exams in a limited time. 
3. Illegible Work: When a child is struggling just to hold the pencil, legibility often suffers. Some teachers may not have the time to decipher messy writing, which can unfortunately lead to lower marks than a child deserves.

So, how do you know if your child's grip is a real problem?

• Further up my page, I have a checklist of when to consider seeing an OT.
• Chat to your child's teachers - they have a good sense of who is coping and who is struggling.

An occupational therapy assessment doesn't always lead to expensive, long-term therapy. Sometimes, the OT will simply provide you with a targeted home program of  fine motor activities or even just reassure you if your child's grip is functional.

However, if your child genuinely needs support, the OT will be able to guide and provide long-term workarounds like scribes and keyboarding assistance when needed.

Investing a little time now to build your child's skills and confidence can prevent significant struggles and frustration later on.