United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Our 4 year old has erbs and is trying to learn to write with his left, non erbs hand. Our OT suggests having him hold something in his palm such as a ball of playdough as he is trying to learn how to hold onto the pencil with the proper finger grip. I guess this helps get the extra fingers out of the way...

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make learning to write a fun experience?

Our OT is supposed to send us different pencil grips for us to try but we haven't gotten them yet. Has anyone tried anything else they might recommend to make this stage easier?

Oh! Pencil Grips! I STILL use them! They are amazin! Really get really big chunky ones and they work cos of little hands but i jst have normal ones and they work wonders. Thats wot i used when i was growing up.
How about doing "Take the dog for a walk" to help him get used to holding the pencil and controlling it. If you dont know wot the game is it is when ur little guy holds the pencil in his hand, you hold the paper down, he shuts his eyes and then he makes pattern with the pencil like round and round to cover the paper and then he can colour in all the spaces. its really good fun. Then maybe he could like begin to draw his fav animal(hope for cat) and you can teach him to spell it and keep doing things like that say draw mummy and write mummy above it.
I dont know if this will help, give it a go. u learn from mistakes if it doesnt work.

Good Luck.

Michelle x

I don't know if you live in the states but over here in the Uk you can actually buy pencil grips from a toy store called The early Learning Centre and they are about £1.00 for a set of three, you might want to ahve a look in some stores locally to you, as they may ahve them as stock items rather than waiting for the OT to get them for you.
Good Luck
Karen

I sqeeze a tennis ball, it really helps develope a firm grip, I've been dion' it for about 30 yrs
Do it in the morning when muscles are more relaxed

Maia's therapist has her working with the thick crayons that are cut into little chunks (about 1" long)- she says that this helps strengthen the grip. We shall see.

Yes the broken crayons are good because you have to hold them w/ your fingertips (not fisting them) and also shading with a crayon/chalk turned sideways. They sell egg-shaped chalk in stores and adaptive crayons (bulb shape for you to hold) in therapy catalogs. I've also seen some really neat toys like an electronic one that has lights that light up in the form of letters and you put tracing paper over it and the lights show thru to follow for tracing. There's also something called "My First Sony - Electronic Sketch Pad" - you hook it up to the TV, draw on the board and it shows up on the TV. There are also toys that make noise or music as you write. Ask your OT if she knows about the "Handwriting Without Tears" Program.

Oh! And spreading modeling clay out flat and writing in it gives more input to the muscles/nerves and can just be fun too!

Bumping up.
Carolyn J
LOBPI/adult