Children arrive at school able to run and kick a ball, but some struggle to hold a pencil

Summarised by Centrist

Some children are arriving at school able to run, jump and kick a ball but struggling with the basic finger movements needed to hold a pencil, according to teachers. 

New research suggests fine motor control matters far more than the way children grip their pencils.

Wellington teacher Shelly Wilson, who teaches five-to-seven-year-olds, told RNZ that some children have well-developed gross motor skills but lack the fine motor coordination required for handwriting.

"It's really hard for some children that come into school who have lovely gross motor skills, can kick a ball and run around, but they don't have the fine motor skills to be able to hold a pencil," she said.

Teachers are using activities involving playdough, pegs and tongs to develop finger strength and coordination.

Meanwhile, research involving nearly 800 children in Years 3, 6 and 8 found that only about a third used the traditional "tripod grip" taught in schools.

More than half used a thumb-wrap grip, generally considered less effective.

But researchers were surprised to discover that pencil grip did not determine writing fluency.

"We were also interested to see that the grip really didn't determine the fluency of the students' writing," said University of Otago researcher Dr Jenny Ward.

Children who could move their fingers independently of their wrists and arms wrote more fluently, regardless of their grip. 

Those relying on larger arm movements struggled, even when holding their pencils conventionally.

Ward said fluent handwriting frees children to concentrate on vocabulary, ideas and organising their thoughts rather than the physical act of writing.

Read more at 1News

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