Hi Heather, thank you very much for the knowledge. By 8 months your grqsps will start to use a raking type grasp. Place your affected hand palm-down on the table and use your other hand to bend your wrist side-to-side. Occupational therapy helps people of all ages. Bundles Day Money-Back Guarantee. At this age, a young toddler begins Hand Grasps Occupational Therapy 48 use a palmar supinate hand grasps occupational therapy work.

From the time your child starts grasping for objects with their hands, they are developing pencil grasp. If your child has ever received or been evaluated for Occupational Therapy, this is one thing that the therapist will be looking at when assessing their handwriting skills. Before we get started here are some term definitions that will help explain some of the hand grasps:. Let's start at the beginning.

Again these are average ages ranges, every child is different. If you do suspect your child is behind in their development, please talk to your pediatrician or consult with your local Occupational Therapist. Your child will start using their entire hand to grasp at objects, including some thumb movement. This is called a Palmar Grasp. They will begin to involve the thumb and all fingers while using more of the thumb side of their hand to grab objects or using a radial palmar grasp.

By 8 months your child will start to use a raking type grasp. This involves bending or flexing the fingers to bring objects into the hand and closer to them. A radial grasp refers to the fingers from the middle finger to thumb doing the grasping. As pictured, the child tends to use the pads of their fingers to grasp instead of the tips. By the age of The difference between the Inferior Pincer Grasp and a regular Pincer grasp is all in the placement of the fingertips.

The index and thumb are used in for this grasp. If the pads of the fingers are holding the object, that is an Inferior Pincer Grasp. A true pincer grasp is using the tips of the pointer finger and thumb. At this age, a young toddler begins use a palmar supinate grasp.

It is a fisted grasp with the thumb wrapped at the top of the writing utensil. This is usually accompanied by scribbling. This is considered a primitive grasp. By years old, a child moves to a digital pronate grasp, pictured below. This is the beginning of an efficient looking hand grasp.

The fingers are now pointed down towards the bottom of the writing utensil, however, all the fingers are being used along with a lot of whole arm movements. This is also a common grasp for self-feeding with utensils. By age 3 to 4 a child will switch to a static tripod grasp or quadrupod grasp.

They hold the writing utensils crudely and use the whole pads of their fingers on the writing utensil. There also may still be some wrist and forearm movement to move the pencil, with the fingers not moving, or static. The static tripod grasp is a 3 finger grasp, two fingers pinching the writing utensil and the 3rd middle finger tucked to the side of the pencil, forming a tripod.

The 4th and 5th fingers are usually static next to these fingers and do not tuck into the palm of the hand yet. A quadrupod grasp is also referred to as a 4 finger grasp, 3 fingers being on the pencil and then tucked on the 4th finger. It can also be static or dynamic. Dynamic is pictured below. This is much like an adult grasp. Their finger movements are also dynamic, which means they move back in forth without any forearm or minimal wrist movement the arm will be resting on the table or writing surface instead of floating above.

This grasp is also referred to as a 3-finger grasp, the first 2 fingers on the pencil while resting on the middle finger. The 4th and 5th fingers are tucked into the palm of the hand and help to stabilize the hand on the table. For a while, the tripod grasp was the only mature grasp to be considered an efficient grasp past the age of Kindergarten.

However, an exception was made for the quadruped grasp since so many people and children use that type of grasp myself included and are able to print neatly and at a decent writing speed. Be sure to talk to your child's therapist to see what type of pencil grasp they will be looking for in order to consider that goal met if your child has a pencil grasp goal in Occupational Therapy. Again, these are average ages ranges and every child is different.

However, this gives you a good idea of what to look for as your child starts to explore the wonderful world of writing. If you would like to get printable cards of all these hand grasps, complete with descriptions and photos, you can check out my hand grasp development cards here. There is a digital and printed version available. They are great to have on hand in your classroom as you evaluate students. Or in your home or therapy sessions as a handy resource and reminder.

You May Also Like:. Great post. I have one son who has been quite insistent on this grip despite my best efforts. Yes, Heather, on the Peabody Fine Motor Test I believe it is scored just slightly lower, but is considered within norms now.

All of the OTs I worked with considered it an acceptable grasp as well. Which is good since I use that type of grasp myself, haha! Hi Heather, Thank you for interesting article. My daughter is 18months and consistently uses tripod grasp in her right hand. How unusual is this and do you know if it is indicative of anything else in her development? Kind regards Leyla. I can hold my pencil and write the correct way, but it feels better and is faster the other way.

Haha, Hey Crystal! Thanks for coming by! Sounds like you are doing great with your little ones for handwriting. Yes, every child develops different. A functional grasp is one in which the writer uses a pencil both efficiently and effectively. A functional grasp is one that the student is able to write without several big issues. When a student writes with a pencil, they may not use the clear-cut tripod grasp. The student may write all of the letters and numbers in a clear and legible manner, but hold the pencil with a really awkward and strange positioning.

The pencil grasp might not look like a traditional tripod grasp or modified tripod grasp. The child may use three or four, or even five fingers on their pencil, yet write in a way that is actually legible and time efficient. A grasp might look really out of place in the classroom, but be able to read their writing later when they come back to read over their notes. A functional pencil grasp can exist with one or more of the aspects which are considered inefficient, yet the written work is still legible.

When a Hand Grasps Occupational Therapy Year grasp is legible and efficient, it is considered functional. Many many of us have unique and very functional pencil grasps. The issue is when a quirky grip on the pencil becomes a cause for illegibility, fatigue, joint strain, or other concern. In those cases, a grasp should be addressed.

Remember that a functional pencil grasp is the one we want to see. A functional pencil grasp might look like various things. Fatigue and endurance play a part in a functional pencil grasp. Functional grasp means the child can perform the strokes that make up letters and numbers without pain, low endurance, misaligned joints, or with proximal motions of the arm.

Inefficient Pencil Grasp- An inefficient pencil grasp is one which is not functional. There are several components that indicate an inefficient grasp, and a child does not need to present with all of these components to utilize an inefficient pencil grasp. Some examples of an inefficient pencil grasp include:.

Each of the items discussed in this list could be covered in a whole article of their own. Handwriting Speed- Some research has found that there is no impact between various types of mature pencil grasps as they relate to handwriting legibility and speed.

What this tells us is that tells us that a child using a mature pencil grasp has options! Schwellnus, H. Some of these issues might be proximal weakness, sensory processing issues that present as pencil pressure, or writing very heavily which can slow down handwriting speed , or other concerns.

Pencil pressure- Sometimes, children hold their pencil very tightly. They press so hard on the paper, that lines are very dark when writing. The pencil point breaks.

The non-dominant, assisting hand moves the paper so roughly that the paper crumbles. When turning pages in a notebook, the pages tear or crumble. Movements are not fluid or efficient. Handwriting takes so much effort, that the child becomes fatigued, frustrated, and sore. It may take so much effort to write a single word, that handwriting is slow and difficult. Other times, the pencil pressure is just too light. Some students vary in their pencil pressure. They may start out writing at a legible pencil pressure, but as they write their hand get tired and with that hand fatigue, the writing gets lighter and lighter.

Here is more information on pencil pressure in handwriting and how to help with creative activities. In order to demonstrate distal mobility, proximal support and stability is needed.

That is, the grasp appears awkward, et the letters and words are legible and the speed is efficient. Here is more information on pencil control and distal mobility in handwriting. Here are games to improve pencil grasp. Static Tripod Grasp- Between about 3. This grasp permits the child to hold the writing utensil with the thumb and index finger with the pencil shaft resting on the DIP joint of the middle finger.

Mobility of the pencil occurs from larger joints while the fingers remain static.

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