Children struggle to hold pens because of excessive use of iPads, claim experts

Children are struggling to use and pencils because the excessive use of touchscreen phones and iPads is damaging their dexterity, specialists have claimed.

Paediatric doctors, handwriting experts and orthopaedic therapists are warning that although youngsters can swipe a screen, they no longer have the hand strength and agility to learn to write correctly when they start school.

Increasingly the use of digital screens is replacing traditional skills such as drawing, painting and cutting out which boost fine motor skills and coordination.

“Children coming into school are being given a pencil but are increasingly not be able to hold it because they don’t have the fundamental movement skills,” Sally Payne, the head paediatric occupational therapist at the Heart of England foundation NHS Trust, told The Guardian newspaper.