How to turn your child into an ape—and how not to

We will start this article at the zoo, and indeed right at the ape enclosure. Imagine you are with me because I want you to study the hands of the apes very carefully. Of course you notice that they are different—well animal like, actually. But have a closer look at the thumbs, because this digit is one of the keys to the success of the human hand. In apes the thumb is a relatively short and weak. Additionally it is not fully opposable, that is an ape cannot have full pad to pad contact between the thumb and the other fingers. In humans even the thumb pad itself is different—it is broad and flexible so it can be formed to fit the shape of what is being held. So it is hard to imagine that any human would want the hand of an ape, unless they do really have a monkey brain, but this is precisely what my article is about— pen grip and handwriting in schools.

Humans hold a pen, or should, using the tips of their fingers because this is where maximum control and flexibility are available. Any departure from this grip thus has very significant implications for handwriting. The anatomically correct pen grip is to hold the pen about two centimetres from the end with the pads of the forefinger and thumb on the pen, and exactly or nearly exactly opposed. The underside of the pen, which we cannot see, rests across the end of the middle finger, touching precisely where the vertical side of the fingernail joins the flesh. The thumb must not override the forefinger and indeed the top surface of the pen must be visible between the pads of the thumb and forefinger.

One experiment reveals all

Does this really make a difference? Grab a pencil and a piece of paper right now and we will do a little science experiment. First pretend that you are an ape which means that instead of using the tip of your thumb to hold the pen you use the base of the thumb. Some sub-humans even do worse than this, holding a pen as though their hand is the foot of bird. Now draw, with this ape grip, the largest circle that you can. Keep going around and around until you have traced the circle a number of times.

Now change your grip to that described above—the human grip. Draw a second circle in the same manner. You should notice that the diameter of the human circle is twice as large, or more, as the ape circle.

Unbelievably though many children and adults write holding their pen in the full ape style. This means that they must make double the hand movements across the page in order to complete a line of writing, since their movement span is only half of what it should be. This is one of the main reasons why secondary school students cannot running write, and why they get sore hands. Using the ape pen grip it is not physically possible to write the longer words in continuous running writing. Instead the writing must be stopped and the hand moved.

The truth about secondary school students

Secondary school students today invariably print. When asked why nearly always they say that their running writing is not legible. And mostly they are quite right. But the reason for this is because they were taught a degenerate style of running writing which began during the 1970s in NSW schools, known as ‘modified cursive’. This style is really just printed letters joined together at the most convenient place. One example is the letter ‘n’, which is joined from the bottom. The result is that the letter can turn into an ‘r’ or even ‘w’. Unfortunately, when written at speed, these inappropriately joined and printed forms collapse into a script that could be described as drunken Egyptian. No wonder students want to print. However printing isn’t the answer either. In printing each letter is separate from every other letter so there is maximum freedom to deform the shapes and vary the vertical and horizontal spacing. So for most children high speed printing is simply more Egyptian.

A third reason why secondary school students cannot running write is that during primary school they were not given formal and regular handwriting lessons, where shape, form and pen grip were emphasised, and indeed required. In too many schools a handwriting lesson consists of students pretending to work through a copybook while the teacher sits at his or her desk catching up on some marking.

Traditional handwriting uses joins which keep the letters quite separate, no matter how quickly they are written. Thus, the forms of each letter are quite recognisable even when written at considerable speed. And of course running writing also keeps vertical spacing under control. The result is writing which is more legible than printing. And faster.

Nelson and his left handed love letters

Photographs of handwriting of at least 200 years ago show that for just over one and a half centuries there were no significant changes in style. This real running writing was good enough to be used in the cabins of wooden ships being tossed about on the sea. This was the style which Horatio Nelson used to write love letters to Lady Hamilton while at sea, using his left hand. Yes, that’s just how good traditional writing is. You can lose your right hand, and still manage quite admirably with your left!

Another example? Why not. Two clicks on your computer will bring you to the handwriting of Albert Einstein. It’s beautiful, flowing, regular running writing. Could the clarity of the handwriting be related to the clarity of this genius’s mind? It’s a thought.

Now let’s take an example of how pen grip and using a pen assists creativity. Search ‘1 Bligh St, Sydney’ on Youtube. There the architects of this innovative new building explain concepts with a sheet of paper and a pen—using the human pen grip. Once again the correct pen grip is associated with creative global level performance. Isn’t this what you want for your child?

Yes, you are the teacher

So what to do? Well if you find out that your children’s school doesn’t really teach handwriting at all, then this is the best news you can possibly have. You can do the job yourself—what a pleasure it will be. But in all cases start teaching traditional running writing at home from Year 4 or 5 onwards, perhaps changing the capitals into printed capitals, and also changing the letter ‘p’ into a printed form though joined fore and aft. A start must also be made on holding the pen or pencil correctly, and a triangular pen grip—available in most newsagents—is

absolutely essential. There are other types of pen grip, which can be effective if the child perseveres. But almost always they do not as the triangular grip is far more satisfying in its simplicity, and it works perfectly.

Young children should be using a 4B pencil. Year 3 children, whose fingers are stronger, can start with a 3B pencil and then progress to a 2B pencil. The reason is simple—a normal pencil is not dark enough for the tiny muscles in the fingers of young children. This fact escapes monkey-brained teachers. I might add here that every parent needs to buy an electric pencil sharpener. Even children who are in Years 4 or 5, often prefer a B pencil as it is just slightly darker than the HB. Children should never use a round shaped pencil unless it is with a pen grip. Hexagonal pencils are always best, and this includes colouring pencils. In making these changes proceed slowly. Beginning with the correct pencil grip requires a week or so of simple scribbling, tracing and circle drawing to allow the finger muscles to adjust to the new position.

Which brand of pencil to use? Well it doesn’t matter provided a pencil grip is being used, and the pencil is the correct grade. But if parents want their children to have the Rolls-Royce of pencils there is only one choice: the Staedtler Mars Lumograph, made in Germany, coloured in solid traditional blue, with a black tip beyond a narrow white band. Very few stationery outlets stock these pencils because of their cost. A Rolls-Royce is about 30 times the cost of a normal car, and these pencils are about 20 times the cost of a cheap pencil. But it’s an investment in your child’s future.

I use these pencils with the children I teach because I take handwriting seriously and I want the very best available. Any parent who has difficulty in buying these pencils drop me a line and I will be able to send you a selection which will save you having to order in a box.

Your child can have the hand of a micro-surgeon

The choice then is ridiculously simple: your child either grows up to be an ape or becomes a human who can use his or her hand as the beautiful precision tool that it is. Let’s take yet another example—Professor Earl Owen, Australia’s pioneering micro-surgeon who developed intricate stitching techniques and also the tools to carry out his operations. Many times he has rejoined amputated fingers, hands and limbs—and that’s connecting bones, muscles, tendons, blood vessels and nerves and body parts most of us don’t even know about. These operations, and other types of surgery, were also done on babies and young children with tiny blood vessels.

I do know exactly how Professor Owen holds his pen because I have his autobiography, and in that book is a photograph of him at his desk holding his pen—using the human grip. Your child could also develop the hand of a famous micro-surgeon, so start on all this advice today.

Oh, one more thing. You need to visit your child’s school and check on the pen grip of each teacher. Score each teacher 1 for human, 0.5 for semi-human and 0 for ape. Remember the position of the thumb is one of the main indicators of ape behaviour. Average the assessments and if your school scores below say 0.75, which is three-quarters human, then send the teachers away for retraining. If the retraining is unsuccessful then there is no choice—teachers must go and live permanently in a zoo, as part of a new exhibit entitled ‘Failed Humans’. So good luck. Save your child now, and then do something to save the school.