No direct experience but I have read that cursive can work in a situation like this. Also, what kind of pencils do you use? I find that mechanical pencils flow easier and require less pressure. DS's hand would fatigue quickly b/c he had a death grip on his pencil. Well, I did pay quite a bit for pencil refills but using a mechanical pencil taught him not to grip so tightly since he had to try to not break the lead. I started him w/ the 0.7mm lead - the thickest.
We actually found some shorter triangular pencils (maybe 6 inches long) with a very soft lead when we were teaching DS to write. The soft lead means they don't have to push so hard and the shorter/triangular pencil is easier for small hands. They were great!
Unfortunately, we are out of them now (the soft lead dulls fast so you must sharpen regularly) and a web search hasn't turned any up yet. Perhaps, we'll try mechanical ones.
I know Handwriting Without Tears offers short pencils too but I haven't tried them.
As for the cursive, Belle, I too have heard that it can help but don't have any direct experience with it.
