It is very important that a child holds their pencil in the correct way.
The pencil should be held in the “tripod” grip between the thumb and the first two fingers. The grip is the same for both left and right handed children. If a child´s hold starts incorrectly, it is very difficult to correct later on.
A child needs to form each letter the correct way. The letter c is introduced in the early stages as this forms the basic shape of some other letters, such as d. Particular problems to look for are:
- the o (the pencil stroke must be anti-clockwise, not clockwise)
- d (the pencil starts in the middle, not the top)
- m and n (there must be an initial downstroke, or the letter m looks like the McDonald´s arches)
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