The Pencil Grip Original Universal Ergonomic Writing Aid for Righties and Lefties, 6 Count, Assorted Colors (TPG-11106)

Product Information

Older children using this grasp have not developed the fine motor skills needed to hold onto their pencil with their fingers. With this inefficient grasp comes fatigue, pain, stress on the joints, decreased writing speed and overall legibility. A pencil grip may be a tool provided to support a functional pencil grasp, depending on the needs of the individual student. Pencil grips are designed to support the most functional and efficient pencil grasp a child can achieve. Whereas pencil grasp will be used to indicate the position that the children’s fingers are on the pencil.

This can be a good option for older children as it forces them to adopt a different finger position. Lastly, for children who have started to hold the pencil with their fingers rather than their whole hand, but who are still struggling to get the correct fingers onto their pencil, a pencil grip can be tried. The alternative pencil grasp pattern that is successful for many kiddos who simply cannot achieve an efficient grasp is use of an adaptive tripod grasp, or any grasp which enables a functional grip on the pencil. This means their thumb, index and middle fingers should be on the pencil grip in the appropriate place. To further explore pencil grasp development, take a look at our blog post, Pencil Grasp Development and get this great Pencil Grasp Quick Visual Guide, which helps Occupational Therapists identify and explain grasp patterns, using pictures to educate, and explain how pencil grasps progress developmentally.No image or information displayed on this site or related domains including social media may be reproduced, transmitted, or copied without the express permission of The OT Toolbox. This is based on many factors including; their current skill level, motivation, and understanding that the pencil grasp should be efficient and effective, but NOT perfect. The Grotto Grip is not as cushiony as “The Pencil Grip”, but it is easier to use, as it has molded finger slots for the thumb and index fingers, and an indentation on the bottom for the grip to rest on the middle finger. The Trigo has a less rigid finger position system, but children can again easily slip back to their preferred pencil grasp.

The Adaptive Tripod Grip is appropriate to use when low muscle tone or hyper mobility of the finger joints limits pinching and manipulating the pencil.You will have children that the typical grip will not work for, and you’ll need that one rarely used grip just for them!

These grip strategies are all discussed further on our page ‘What Does a Good Pencil Grasp Look Like? Sometimes the easiest way to ensure a better grip on a pencil is by getting a smaller pencil into those hands. If you are looking for specific activities and worksheets to help children with their pencil grasp then we also recommend our resource Supporting Pencil Grasp Development.

Honestly, this grip is essentially “The Pencil Grip”, with a wing on the front to help prevent the fingers and thumb from wrapping over the pencil shaft. g sums on the pegs and attach to the correct card, or place the number of pegs on the card, colour match pegs with cards, place words onto pegs and use the too clip onto card to make a sentence, follow a sequence pegging the pattern along the line using pegs to secure it.