Every now and then, technology lets us rest our aching thumbs from the frantic tapping process involved in emailing, chatting, et cetera, through our smartphones and then we remember our fingers are useful for more activities than merely holding our handsets. On the other hand, we try to refrain our children to use the phone too much and instead try to enforce perfect handwriting on then. How, then, about leading by example and practicing the handwriting ourselves?
Handwriting is an art that is never perfected.
Three starting points will help us overcome any fear of handwriting: First, when it comes to developing motor skills in our fingers, size matters: the smaller, the better. Manipulation of tiny objects that we can roll and twist in our hands (without pricking ourselves) is a second to none therapy for our hands to get a better understanding of our brain. Second, let us practice the tripod grasp when handling pencils and pens, ring and pinky fingers firmly rolled pressing the pan and the other three grabbing the writing device. Third, try writing every letter when possible from the top, since drawing letters from the same start point will help this task be made routine and improve it. Find practical examples in this video and in the website yumstheraplay.com!
The use of small tools will require the small muscles of the hand to develop important fine motor skills for handwriting.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Key takeaways
- Occupational therapist Tera Robinson provides tips for increasing your handwriting skills.
- One suggestion is to encourage the use of small tools, such as legos, pipe cleaners, tweezers, or toothpicks, which will increase fine motor control.
- Another suggestion is to encourage an ideal tripod pencil grasp and encourage forming letters from the top since handwriting is more consistent when the letters have a consistent starting point.
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