Children who grip their pens too close to the writing point are likely to be at a disadvantage in examinations, 1 to the first serious investigation into the way in which writing technique can dramatically affect educational achievement.
The survey of 643 children and adults, ranking from preschool to 40-plus, also suggests 2 pen-holding techniques have detedorated sharply over one generation, with teachers now paying far 3 attention to correct pen grip and handwriting style.
Stephanie Thomas, a learning support teacher 4 findings have been published, was inspired to investigate this area 5 he noticed that those students who had the most trouble with spelling 6 had a poor pen grip. While Mr. Thomas could not establish a significant statistical link 7 pen-holding style and accuracy in spelling, he 8 find huge differences in technique between the young children and the mature adults, and a definite 9 between near-point gripping and slow, illegible writing.
People who 10 their pens at the writing point also show other characteristics 11 inhibit learning, 12 as poor posture, leaning too 13 to the desk, using four fingers to grip the pen 14 than three, and clumsy positioning of the thumb (which can obscure 15 is being written).
Mr. Thomas believes that the 16 between elder and younger writers is 17 too dramatic to be accounted for simply by the possibility that people get better at writing as they grow 18 . He attributes it to a failure to teach the most effective methods, pointing out that the differences between 19 groups coincides with the abandonment of formal handwriting instruction in classrooms in the sixties. "The 30-year-old showed a huge diversity of grips, 20 the over 40s group all had a uniform "tripod" grip."