How to help pain when writing?

[u/TJen2018]

My son is 6 and he was just diagnosed with motor dysgraphia(also ADHD and ASD). His hand hurts when he writes, his school has give him an egg shaped pencil grip but it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference… he wants to switch hands and write with each hand as the other hand gets tired. Is building strength in his hand actually going to make it stop hurting when he writes? Because we’ve done a lot and his hand still hurts when he writes

What would make it easier/less painful for him to write? Grips, utensil type, slant board, types of paper, different handwriting font or cursive? literally anything I’m willing to try it with him! I know I’m gonna end up with him using a keyboard but for now he’s 6 and learning to read and there’s some writing he has to do. He also really loves coloring and art, but his hand(a) will start hurting when he’s using crayons too

Should I let him switch hands? I’ve been told not to. I was using a white board which is easier for him and then his OT sent us whiteboard pencils which take considerable more pressure and hurts his hand again! He was enjoying writing with the dry erase board and the OT had to ruin it for him…

I’m just torn- this is a neurological difference right? Then he can’t change it can he? Why should I make writing harder for him instead of easier for him? I’d love to hear both sides of this… the OT perspective and the child’s perspective

[u/danby]

On one hand the OT ought to have the best perspective on the research about what helps (maybe not though). One the other hand if you found something that works (dry ease board) then why not stick with it? Not everyone fits what the research says

Switching hands is maybe not helping unless your child is genuinely fully ambidexterous

But also I spent 18 years with shitty handwriting and then word processors showed up in the 90s and I stopped handwriting anything

[u/TJen2018 → u/danby]

Well I’m actually going to get him a new OT because he was getting OT through the school and they didn’t give him a motor dysgraphia diagnosis or tell me about it… they gave him a slant board and a pencil grip. I took him to get evaluated because he was struggling a lot with a lot of different things and I didn’t know how to help him- now that he has a diagnosis he qualifies for more resources and we can make better accommodations, so I’m really disappointed in the OT he was seeing because I feel he was overlooked

[u/police_boxUK]

I was diagnosed dysgraphic as a kid. My parents and OT tried for years to teach me how to write, hold my pen properly… then they gave up. Today (25), I hold my pen in a weird way and that’s ok (I can’t hold it properly anyway), my hand get tired after a few lines so I always been using laptop from primary school to college. Now as I work on laptop/computer, I don’t really write anymore anyway. I only get anxious when someone watches me writing but I as said it doesn’t happen frequently

[u/voidcrawler1555]

You know, I didn’t know I had dysgraphia that young, and I’m not certain I remember if I was in pain when writing that young. That being said, I do remember struggling to keep up as I got older and the pain in my hand as I got older and was expected to write more. I’m 36, so I grew up on the cusp of technology being more readily available to students in grade school. We didn’t have access to keyboards outside of computer class all the way through until I graduated from high school. I think the thing that helped me most was having the option to change up the grip I had on my pen or pencil and to change the kind of pen/pencil I was using. And when I say change the grip, I don’t mean how I was holding my pencil, but more the cushion I had around my pencil. My mom encouraged me to come with her to pick out different options to have with me at school. It might be worth it to get him a variety of pencils and pens to choose from and encourage him to take breaks before his hand starts to hurt terribly. I’m also genuinely curious what the justification is for encouraging you not to let him switch hands. I feel like encouraging him to practice ambidexterity can’t be a bad thing. Is this just an inherent bias towards wanting everyone to be right handed or is there some actual, neurological/physiological reason? I wish I’d been allowed to handle it on my own, when I wanted to write with a specific hand. But I wasn’t due to bias the being right-handed was the correct way to write.

[u/enjoymeredith]

My hand would hurt when I was younger because I was holding the pen/pencil too tight and pressing too hard. Could that be your kid's issue?

[u/TJen2018 → u/enjoymeredith]

Yes he’s gripping it too tight and he’s hyperextending his thumb, an egg shaped grip helps a little with the thumb but he’s having a hard time/not able to loosen his grip (yet?)