When a child is learning to write and hold a pencil, showing them how to hold a pencil with a tripod grasp can still be very beneficial. “Interventions for handwriting difficulties should focus more on speed and letter formation than on grasp pattern.” ( Source)ĭoes this mean we should not even try to encourage a tripod grasp? I don't think that is the case. Our findings question the practice of having students adopt the dynamic tripod pencil grasp.” ( Source)Īnother study in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy found this: These four pencil grasp patterns performed equivalently. “The dynamic tripod pencil grasp did not offer any advantage over the lateral tripod or the dynamic or lateral quadrupod pencil grasp in terms of quality of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task. The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal published an article in 2012 that found the following: ![]() However, we also want to look at function. And it can also be true that this grasp allows for the most dynamic movement with handwriting with fewer fingers being on the pencil. It is true that a dynamic tripod grasp has been held as the “gold standard” of pencil grasp development. Personally, I go between a dynamic quadrupod grasp and lateral quadrupod grasp. You may not use a tripod grasp yourself and have wondered why so much focus has been placed on having a tripod grasp. The short answer is the tripod grasp is not the only functional grasp for our children. Is the Tripod Grasp the Best Pencil Grasp? But we also want to see them move out of using that 5-fingered grasp to a 4 or 3-fingered grasp with dynamic movement by the time Kindergarten has finished. It is important to remember that younger children, under age 4-5 may use a 5-fingered grasp as they are learning to hold a pencil. What makes the grasp immature is the fact that the arm is moving the pencil across the page, not the fingers.Īnother immature grasp would include the 5-finger grasp, meaning all 5 fingers are touching the pencil to hold it. It could be an immature tripod grasp or even a lateral or modified quadrupod grasp. This could also affect their handwriting speed and legibility. Remember static means the movement is coming from the wrist, elbow, and shoulder and dynamic is when the movement comes from the fingers.Īn immature grasp could affect the child's handwriting ability if they are not able to control and manipulate the pencil in an effective way for letter formation during writing. What is an immature tripod grasp?Īn immature tripod grasp specifically would mean that a child past the age of 6 or 7 is using a static grasp, instead of moving to a dynamic grasp. In this case, both the Occupational Therapist, who was my supervisor, and I agreed that trying to change his grasp back to a “regular” tripod grasp from the modified grasp was not appropriate. In fact, he said it was uncomfortable to write with a “regular” tripod grasp. Once the cast came off, he kept using the modified tripod grasp and it had no effect on his writing speed or legibility. ![]() So he adapted his grasp to a modified tripod grasp and had great success with it. The cast prevented him from using his thumb for grasping the pencil appropriately because the thumb was included in the cast. I once had a student who had broken his writing arm. This grasp can be described as a three-fingered grasp, however, the pencil is placed between the index finger and 3rd finger, instead of the open web space between the thumb and index finger.Īgain, we are looking for dynamic movement of the fingers and not static movement. You may also see this referred to as an adaptive grasp as it does provide more stability for holding the pencil for some children who need that. Modified Tripod Grasp: An Adaptive GraspĪnother functional grasp is the modified tripod grasp. ![]() You can also have a lateral quadrupod grasp, which would be a four-fingered grasp with the pencil being held by the lateral side of the thumb. This is what I tend to personally use when I hold a pencil for writing. The webspace is not as open, but the movement of the pencil should still come from the fingers and not the wrist, elbow, or shoulder. Instead of having a defined open-web space where the pencil sits between the thumb and index finger, the pencil is held with the lateral, or inside of the thumb. The difference here is the placement of the thumb. This grasp is defined as a three-fingered grasp, with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |