by Erin Steeley

Created on: July 07, 2009

Gripping the pencil tightly, the boy sticks out his tongue and puts the lead to his paper, trying desperately to follow the line to make the "W" in front of him. As he comes down to the corner, and strains to bring the pencil upward, the lead tears through the paper, ravishing the letter unidentifiable. Thrusting the pencil on the desk, he crumples the paper in fury and flings it to the floor. This scene can be a common occurrence in today's classrooms as some children who have learning disabilities deal with the added burden of trying to correctly write like the peers around them. The frustration is understandable if this scene is replayed over and over again until the child is scolded for having behaved inappropriately for showing anger. The acting out is actually a cry for help far more than one of misbehavior. This can be avoided, though, with some special tools and creative thinking on the part of the regular and special education staff.

Making writing less of a burden is key in taking some of the stress off of a child with greater problems than this. Dealing with issues in doing math or reading do not need to be compounded by requirements that are so stringent in something like handwriting that it overrides the purpose it is intended to serve. To start with, look closely at exactly what the child is struggling with, the patterns of behavior that are tied to the activity of writing, and when the child is the most successful in this activity.

How the child holds a pencil, though a seeminly small matter, is actually a huge piece of the puzzle. If the child is gripping the pencil with too much pressure, as our child in the example at the beginning does, or too lightly can affect his or her writing ability. Too much pressure will cause tears in the paper, having difficulty transitioning between corners and curves in letters, and also can lead to problems in the hand later on down the road. Too light a hold causes less control, unclear lettering, and other related issues. One idea to remedy this is to sit with the child and model how tightly to hold the pencil. Tell them not to hold it so tight that they squeeze it to death, but not too lightly that they might drop it. Practice a little at a time, and stop when frustration starts to set in. Reaching that frustration point and stopping helps to relieve some of the stress that becomes associated with this activity.

To build hand dexterity skills, the child can practice writing letters with their finger using

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