Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Another lefty question

My DS5 has really nice (beautiful) hand-writing with his lefthand. He will only hold it with his bottom two fingers (pinky and ring) and thumb though - the index and middle finger just rest on the pencil; and his PT (for vestibular and visual tracking issues) says that he must hold it with his top three. She is not a lefty, and neither am I or my husband. Are there any lefties out there that can give me advice on this? Will it really effect him later on if he is truly comfortable with this grip? He writes softly and comfortably. Will he just change it later as he gets older if it gets uncomfortable? How do you hold your writing instrument? We tried practicing with his proper three fingers yesterday and it was shaky and really uncomfortable for him. Thanks in advance.

I don't believe in telling a child how to hold a pencil. What works for one person may not work at all for another, and I've known plenty of people (especially lefties) who held it strangely. Why should it matter, as long as he can form his letters correctly? I say don't worry about it, and if it starts to bother him, he'll change it.

My dad was a lefty, and IIRC, he held a pencil either as you describe, or with thumb + middle + ring fingers. I remember it looking odd, but I don't think he had trouble writing for long
periods.

HTH

I'm a leftie and hold my pencil with my thumb, middle and ring fingers. Always have and it's never been an issue for me. Seems it would be less of an issue now because so much of what kids do these days is typed.

I'm a lefty (for writing, but a righy for everything else) and hold a pencil with my index and middle finger and hook my thumb over the top of my index finger. Seems to work for me!

My DS6 (naturally ambi, but taught to be right handed) sees an OT for fine motor skill issues. She was very insistent on a correct pencil grip, and also that he use the same hand for all his fine motor skills. The pencil grip is important in his case because he has such trouble with writing, and it does give the most stability. However, if your DS has good writing and no motor skill delays, I don't think it matters too much.

Your PT might be used to working with kids who have difficulty writing, so advocates for the most stable grip.

Thank you, ladies. Maybe I just need to show her how well he writes as is. The PT also seems to think that I need to try to make him lefty for everything, when currently he eats lefty; but throws, bats, etc as a righty....although he wants to swing a golf club lefty? How can I help him figure out how he is more comfortable with everything else? Thank you!

If he can write comfortably and well, it shouldn't matter how he holds the pencil. He's got to be using a lot more muscles with that grip than with a regular one!

My parents were both lefties, and they held the pencil in an ordinary grip, just with the opposite hand from all us kids. My mother did tend to curl her wrist up over the writing, but that comes from learning to write with ink from an inkwell! She also had a teacher who smacked lefties with a ruler to try and make them righties, but it didn't take.

I am a lefty and I hold my pencil with my thumb, resting on my ring finger with my pointer and middle finger resting/guiding it on the top. When I was little it wasn't so much how I held my pencil that was an issue but rather how I held my paper to write on it! (sideways, opposite the way the teacher thought it should go)
In terms of being completely left or right handed, that should not be an issue because it is very common for someone to be left handed, but "right sided" or visa-versa. I am left handed for everything except putting - I am definitely a right handed putter. DD8 is a righty for eating, writing, drawing and things like that, but we found out last year that she is athletically a lefty.
It is more complex than saying that a person is right handed or left handed, it has to do with how they visually perceive things.

I'm right-handed, but I write with the pen resting on my ring finger also. I've heard that it may create more writing fatigue and I definitely experienced some of that in high school, but I don't really write as much now. Everything is typed now and it isn't a problem anymore.

It didn't bother me at all until the workload really picked up. I was in IB (17 years ago!), so the workload was higher than most high schools.

If it helps, I also have very nice handwriting with precise and well-defined lettering.

I'm a lefty, and I hold my pen "correctly". I say that in quote because I don't think there should be a right and wrong way as long as the person writing is comfortable, and the writing is correct.

DS7 is a righty, and I WISH I could get him to hold his differently because he presses so hard on the paper (making a huge mess if he erases). It's impossible for him to just "relax" when he writes causing friction if he has to write for very long.


This may change for him as he gets older. I started athletically as a righty, and by the time I was 12, I was a lefty. DS7, when he was 4, would interchange between being a lefty or righty on the baseball field. It was dependent on his mood.