Study Time Triangular Handwriting Pens - Black (Pack of 12)

Product Information

the way I grip my pen is weird I guess, because with every other pen (fountain pen or even normal ballpoint pen) the nail of my thumb digs into my pointer finger after a while. It's fine for a couple of minutes but if I'm writing a lot it gets bad.. I always start with broken crayons to promote a distal three finger grasp. I also use small pieces of chalk, stubby markers, broken pencils, anything that is around 1 inch that they child can’t fist. When I can find them, I take the “old school” mechanical pencils – the ones that you would take the bottom point piece off and push down through the top of the pencil to push out a new point – I use the individual pencil points and wrap them in Coban or splinting material to give them a chunky grip. I think it was a Parker but have no recollection of the clip design ,whether it was twist cap or depress, nor in fact any detail other than its hexagonal barrel. What if you had the chance to try a pen grip to work on handwriting, writing pressure, and grasp? Now you do! I’m so excited to partner with Two Sparrows Learning Systems to offer this Dex Pen Grip!

triplus - ergonomic and versatile pens and pencils | STAEDTLER triplus - ergonomic and versatile pens and pencils | STAEDTLER

With a fountain pen, you need a rotating nib/feed, like on the Parker 75, so that you can rotate the nib to sit properly on the paper. My hand will sometimes wrap over the edges of triangular grips when I write, even if I mostly hold them by the flats. Depends on the size of the pen, the size of your hands/fingers, if you adjust your grip often, and so on. Four finger grippers are going to have problems with those edges, every time. Strategies to develop efficient pencil grasp requires good fine motor skills( pinch and palmar grasp), in hand manipulation skills, efficient hand strength, core strength, and proper functioning of proprioceptive sense for pressure. My favourite is incorporating tweezer activity.

Using shorter fatter pens for small hands to help with grip. Also, building hand grasping exercise through use of playdough for strength to build those fine motor skills prior. Now, it’s just tuning the grasp.

Pens and pencils must all be triangular in shape to provide.. Pens and pencils must all be triangular in shape to provide..

I like the preprinted worksheets where the students can trace. I also love to use the green line above and red line below to have the student know where to keep their letters. Some students do well with having a small line per letter to stay on. I like to have the students who are having difficulty with pencil grip to use the bigger, chunkier pencils. Sometimes, wrapping duct tape around the area that I want them to hold the pencil works well. Thanks for your OT community here. Love it! I love doing games that require the use of tongs. There are so many out there that it is great and the kids don’t realize they are doing work. I also like using a clothes pin on the pencil for proper hand positioning if student is having difficulty.We do a lot of work with putty to strengthen the grip and eventually use small pencils and crayons. We have also used triangle crayons and they seem to work ok. The hardest part of them is they tend to feel slippery… Finally, these pens have a step-down from the barrel, then a long section that noticeably narrows to the tip — importantly, with no flare. These often aim to have grippy sections. The ribbed Lamy Imporium is one example; the ridged Tactile Turn Gist is another. Then there are those with plainer textures: the Diplomat Aero or ystudio portable. I believe that the shape of a pen’s section is probably the single biggest determinant in whether the pen is comfortable for you or not. I truly have not found any one technique to be successful. I’ve found using various tasks helps build the coordination needed but that each child is so unique in what they respond to and how they develop the skill. I know that this is a bit of a zombie post, but I would recommend adding something about how different cleaning materials might react with different pen materials (ammonia, isopropol alcohol, etc).

Pen Grip for Handwriting Pressure - The OT Toolbox Pen Grip for Handwriting Pressure - The OT Toolbox

Since I work with preschoolers, a bunch of them are still fisting their crayons and markers. I’ve found that introducing “chomping fingers” with whatever their favorite animal is is helpful to promote a more refined grasp, by saying something like “look at my fingers (and using my thumb and first 2 fingers to chomp repeatedly) – this is the alligator’s chomping teeth, can you show me your chomping fingers” and then guiding them through that movement with their 3 fingers and finally introducing a crayon or marker into the mix. Some kids can sustain that chomping grasp and others cannot, and with the latter, I have kids hold a pom pom in their palm with their ring finger and pinky to “keep their hand company.” Always look proximal…what’s happening in the core, shoulders, forearm, wrist that could be effecting pencil grip. I’ll do a lot of foundational work with my kiddos prior to working on pencil grip: weight bearing, scooterboard obstacle courses, wrist extension, working vertical. Think Mary Benbow! (now i’m aging myself) Always look at hand strength, arches, and wrist extension first. Kids need the foundation on which to build fine motor skills. Some hand therapy may be necessary before even working on writing itself. On pens like the Lamy 2000, the barrel takes a torpedo shape with the nib on the end. There are no steps and often no threads to interrupt the taper all the way from the barrel to the end of the section. In theory this means you get a nice broad section wherever you choose to hold on, with no irritating sharp bits.When writing with the pen, they can use their normal grasp and clearly see the written work because the pen slides more smoothly across the writing surface and they don’t need to accommodate for the resistance of the paper. Very interesting – thankyou. Deciding what pens you like is one thing, understanding why is another. It is an original idea, to group pens according to section type.