I recently bought this little devise to help Little Brother with that important, but sometimes illusive "tripod grasp". He knows he is is suppose to hold his pencil "like a tripod", but he often fumbles around endlessly trying to acheive it.
I'm hoping this tool will help him as much as Big Brother's helped him. These pictures were taken about a year ago, when Big Brother was four. His fine motor strength was very poor and his grasp was inconsistent.
What a difference a year makes! He only had to use this device a few times to learn to recognize what a tripod grasp should feel like. The pinky and the ring finger should be down (those fingers hold down the dolphin charm as a reminder).
His fine motor strength has improved tremendously. We've done lots of activities that develop fine motor strength, and I believe this has really helped him with his writing. He's gone from not ever wanting to hold a crayon to actually asking to color and write.
I got Little Brother's gripper from Rainbow Resource Center for around $1. Big Brother's devise was given to us by his OT. Similar products available all over the internet at very reasonable prices.
For example, I see that you can buy both of these items shown above (as well as lots of other grip tools) from Therapro. The Handi-Writer is $5.29, and the Writing Claw Grip comes in multi-packs starting at around $9. I don't recall ever shopping at Therapro before, but I just so happened to receive their catalog today.
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