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It is important that students with dysgraphia are also getting help at home and not just in the classroom.  This can be done by doing copy work. The parents can write something of interest for the child and the child can try and mimic the parent's work. The parents can also practice with their child on graph paper so they can keep their writing neat or white boards so they can erase and keep practicing. There are lots of strategies parents can use at home to work with their child that has dysgraphia in order to make them more confident in their work. It is important that children practice at home because they can also take more time and not feel the pressure from the other students.

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Are you trying to figure out how to help a child with dysgraphia at home? I'm excited to share some strategies I used over the years to help my son overcome his writing challenges.

While this is something he will always have to deal with, we have definitely seen significant improvement in his writing through consistent modifications, remediation, and accommodations.

When kids are younger, the focus needs to be on building up their fine motor and visual-spatial skills that are essential to writing and then moving on to more in-depth writing processes.

Remember, the goal isn't perfection. It's helping your child be able to express himself clearly through the process of writing.

This post contains affiliate links.
Dysgraphia Understood

Miriam Webster defines dysgraphia as an "impairment of handwriting ability that is characterized chiefly by very poor or often illegible writing or writing that takes an unusually long time and great effort to complete."

Meaning, kids with this neurological disorder struggle with the physical act of writing. They have poor fine motor, visual, and processing skills. It affects handwriting, spelling, and typing.

While the challenge of getting thoughts out of your head isn't necessarily a symptom of dysgraphia, it is a secondary result. When a child has to spend so much time and energy physically forming letters and words, it often gets in the way of forming ideas.

One of the first signs parents notice is messy handwriting.

Other things to watch out for are:

the spacing of letters

consistency in letter size

the ability to write in a straight line

holding a pencil correctly

controlling the pencil and paper

This learning disability affects more than just handwriting, though. When kids can't form letters correctly, they will most likely struggle with spelling. Often, they're also slow writers because it takes an enormous amount of energy and focus to get the letters correct. It may even be a challenge for your child to draw and color.

It's important to understand that if your child suffers from dysgraphia, he is not being lazy. He just needs some extra help to get on the right track.

Over the course of a couple of years, my son completed vision and language therapy programs which helped in a variety of ways, but as the months went on, he continued to struggle with writing.

When he was 10, we finally met with a school psychologist and she helped us identify the signs of dysgraphia.

For more information about dysgraphia, visit the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

What Does Dysgraphia Look Like

Every situation is unique, but this is what dysgraphia looked like for my son.

I didn't know that he had dysgraphia when I was teaching him how to write. When he was young, he did not like to draw or write because he couldn't find a comfortable way to hold a pencil.

As he got older, his handwriting was very inconsistent. Words and sentences were often a combination of upper and lowercase letters, with no spacing between words.

When most kids were writing 1-3 paragraph essays, he struggled to get a complete sentence on a page. He knew what he wanted to say, but he could not get his thoughts on paper.

We were frustrated and confused.

Like with most families, it took time, patience, and a good bit of work to understand what was going on.

How to Help a Child with Dysgraphia

The advice we received was to find various strategies to address the situation. We needed a three-pronged approach:

remediation - additional training/instruction for writing

modifications - altering expectations/requirements

accommodations - alternatives to writing

Over the years, we have searched and researched, and through trial and error found several approaches that have ultimately helped our son.

Every situation is unique, so not all of these may work for your child, but these are the tools and strategies that have worked for our family as we taught our son how to write.

Helpful Dysgraphia Writing Tools

Here are a bunch of the tools we use in our homeschool to help my son get comfortable writing.

Pencils

Gripping the pencil is a huge issue for my son. We've tried lots of things, like using pencil grips. There are many sizes and styles of pencil grips and after testing several them, he finally found one that was comfortable.

He also found it was easier to use shorter pencils because they were easier to control.

Copy Work

My son is now a teenager, but we still practice handwriting daily by using copy work. We look at it like we're constantly strengthening a muscle.

To make this activity more enjoyable, choose copy work that is interesting and meaningful for your child. For my son, that meant something related to history.

He worked his way through many of the Handwriting by George books and is now using Write From History.

Graph Paper

The lines on graph paper help keep columns straight and neat, which is great for keeping kids with dysgraphia focused. It's also a must for working through math problems.

Speaking of math...consider reducing the number of problems required on a page, so your child doesn't get overwhelmed. Maybe just have him complete the odd or even problems instead of everything on the page. Just enough to show that he understands the concepts being covered.

This will help keep the frustration over writing at bay.

Verbal Responses

Instead of having your child regularly write required responses, let him answer questions from lessons verbally instead. This is a non-threatening way to gauge his understanding of a subject.

Using narration in your homeschool (summarizing and repeating back what they have learned) is a great way to take some pressure off your child while still making sure he is mastering the material.

Technology

I would encourage you to use technology as much as possible in your homeschool because often it's easier for children with dysgraphia to type their thoughts instead of writing.

This year we purchased a Microsoft Surface for our son to use to complete many of his assignments, and this has proven to be a positive step forward. It's helped him to get more of his ideas out and onto the screen, instead of sitting staring at a blank piece of paper.

He is quickly learning how to get his ideas down first and then go back to edit his sentences and spellcheck his words.

Dry Erase Board

Let your child do some writing on a whiteboard instead of paper. This allows for writing larger letters, therefore incorporating larger muscle movements, and it is less stressful because it doesn't require him to stay on the lines.

Handwriting Curriculum

Here are a couple of handwriting programs that work well for teaching your child with dysgraphia how to write.

Handwriting Without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears is an award-winning curriculum that is my number one suggestion for handwriting curriculum for dysgraphia and the one we used for several years. Just as advertised, my son progressed through the printing and cursive books without too many tears, which we considered an enormous success.

The slate chalkboard and wood pieces that are a part of the program are very helpful to reinforce the size and direction of capital letters.

Rhythm of Handwriting

Rhythm of Handwriting is another program that's a favorite among homeschooling families. It works well for kids with dysgraphia because of its multi-sensory approach.

It focuses on the movement of each letter stroke and has verbal cues to help struggling learners.

Kids start with large motor skills where they write letters with their fingers before using a pencil. They also teach the letters in patterns, grouping them together based on initial strokes.

The instructions are short and clear, which makes it easier for children to remain focused.

Helpful Curriculum

In addition to helping your child improve his physical writing skills, you also need to help him develop other areas of writing. While these programs aren't specifically written for children with dysgraphia, I have seen firsthand how they can help a child with this learning disability improve their writing skills.

Spelling Smart!

Spelling can be very challenging for kids with dysgraphia, but after trying more programs than I can count, Spelling Smart! is the one that finally worked for us.

A huge benefit to this program is that it reinforces spelling patterns through word lists and various writing opportunities. The repetition makes it easier for kids to master the spelling of a wide variety of words.

Wordsmith Apprentice

If you're looking for a fun and creative writing curriculum, Wordsmith Apprentice is a great choice. This was an early favorite of ours, and it helped my son learn many of the basics he needed to write paragraphs and essays.

Writing Rockstars

When you're ready for a more in-depth, personalized writing instruction program, Writing Rockstars is the one you should choose.

As you know, it's crucial for kids to build solid writing skills as they move through middle school. With this program, students learn how to write specific types of essays using a simple 5 step process.

Essay Rockstar is unique because students work through the lessons at their own pace, then submit their work to a writing teacher for feedback. The one-on-one coaching is invaluable.

It's just the right curriculum to help teens get ready for high school level work.

They even have a free downloadable eBook called " End Blank Page Terror Forever! " It's filled with 24 graphic organizers that are incredibly helpful for kids with dysgraphia.

One of my son's least favorite parts of the writing process is facing a blank piece of paper when he begins a new assignment, so this was invaluable.

Tools for Dysgraphia

Check out my tools for dysgraphia shelf in my Amazon Influencer store. It's full of all kinds of things you can use to help you teach your child with dysgraphia how to write.

Hopefully, you're encouraged by these strategies and tools you can use in your homeschool. It's not easy, but with persistence, patience, and helpful devices, your child can learn how to write well.

What have you done to help your child with dysgraphia?

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How to Help a Child with Dysgraphia at Home

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Does your child struggle with Dysgraphia? There are many ways to help them improve their writing. Tools and strategies to help a child with dysgraphia at home.

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School is not the only place where your child can get support with dysgraphia. at home you can help you child remember letters by tracing the letter on their back and having them tell you what it was. taking away certain senses often hightens others. Practice how to hold a pencil by playing games that requires them to pinch things to pick they up the same way they would hold a pencil. Having them write big can also help them with large motor movements. This can allow for student to better memorize how to write the letters when doing an activity like taking notes.

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When it comes to social skills students that have dysgraphia tend to have a harder time communicating  with others. Because of them not doing as well in school they may have a low self of steam which can make it hard for them to actually connect with other student. Also if they have trouble communicating with other students it may cause them to be bullied. Helping to build their confidence and letting these students know that it is okay to take extra time with work. By doing this you make increase their confidence in themselves allowing for them to be more comfortable with going out and making friends

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Academic: Kids with dysgraphia can fall behind in schoolwork because it takes them so much longer to write. Taking notes is a challenge. They may get discouraged and avoid writing assignments.

Basic life skills: Some children's fine motor skills are weak. They find it hard to do everyday tasks, such as buttoning shirts and making a simple list.

Social-emotional: Children with dysgraphia may feel frustrated or anxious about their academic and life challenges. If they haven't been identified, teachers may criticize them for being 'lazy' or 'sloppy'. This may add to their stress. Their low self-esteem, frustration and communication problems can also make it hard to socialize with other children. They may also be bullied at school for falling back in class. They also show signs of hyper-activity and can be difficult to deal with.
Myth #1: Messy handwriting is a sure sign of dysgraphia.
Fact: Although many people with dysgraphia have poor, hard-to-read handwriting, not all do. In fact, some can write neatly-even though it might take them a lot of time and effort. There are other signs of dysgraphia besides sloppy handwriting. They include slow, labored writing and inappropriately sized and spaced letters.
Myth #2: Kids with dysgraphia have below-average intelligence.
Fact: It's a myth that people with learning and attention issues have poor intelligence, and children with dysgraphia are no exception. In fact, kids with dysgraphia usually have average or above-average intelligence. They just struggle with writing down on paper what they know.
Myth #3: Students with dysgraphia are just being lazy.
Fact: Dysgraphia can make the act of writing a slow and taxing process. Some kids may avoid writing assignments in school simply because writing is so frustrating for them. This might look like laziness, but there are underlying factors you might not see. Watching peers who don't struggle with writing doesn't help either. It can make kids with dysgraphia feel discouraged.
Myth #4: Dysgraphia is the same thing as dyslexia.
Fact: It's true that both dysgraphia and dyslexia can affect the kids' ability to spell. The two, however, are distinct conditions. Dyslexia makes it more difficult for a child to learn to read. On its own, dysgraphia doesn't affect a child's ability to read.
Myth #5: Most kids outgrow dysgraphia, so it's not necessary to spend time helping them.
Fact: Dysgraphia is a lifelong condition-there's no cure to make it go away. That doesn't mean, though, that people with dysgraphia can't succeed at writing and other language-based activities. There are a lot of ways to get help for dysgraphia, including apps and accommodations.

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Dysgraphia affects handwriting and fine motor skills. It interferes with spelling, word spacing, and the general ability to put thoughts on paper. It makes the process of writing laboriously slow, with a product that is often impossible to read.

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Accommodations for students in classroom

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Accommodations for students in classroom

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Student that have dysgraphia can often have a lot of challenges regarding are presented to them in the classroom. By making accommodations for these student you can help these students not feel as uncomfortable or like they are falling behind compared to their classmates. By providing handouts to these students you can reduce the amount of stuff that they may have to copy from the board making it easier on the student. Also because students with dysgraphia tend to take a longer time to write stuff soon allowing extra time for note could help them with the quality of their writing. Holding the writing utensils is also a challenge in these students so pencil grips may make it easier for the student.

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Students with dysgraphia can have trouble with handwriting, typing, and spelling. What classroom accommodations can help? Here are some ways teachers can make all aspects of writing easier.

Classroom materials and routines

Provide pencil grips or different types of pens or pencils to see what works best for the student.

Provide handouts so there's less to copy from the board.

Provide typed copies of classroom notes or lesson outlines to help the student take notes.

Provide extra time to take notes and copy material.

Allow the student to use an audio recorder or a laptop in class.

Provide paper with different-colored or raised lines to help form letters in the right space.

Provide graph paper (or lined paper to be used sideways) to help line up math problems.

Provide paper assignments with name, date, title, etc., already filled in.

Provide information needed to start writing assignments early.

Help the student break writing assignments into steps.

Provide a rubric and explain how each step is graded.

Give examples of finished assignments.

Offer alternatives to written responses, like giving an oral report.

Completing tests and assignments

Adapt test formats to cut down on handwriting. For example, use "circle the answer" or "fill in the blank" questions.

Grade based on what the student knows, not on handwriting or spelling.

Use a scribe or speech-to-text so the student can dictate test answers and writing assignments.

Let the student choose to either print or use cursive for handwritten responses.

Allow a "proofreader" to look for errors.

Provide extended time on tests.

Provide a quiet room for tests if needed.

Does your child struggle with handwriting? Explore fun, effective expert tips to practice at home.

About the author

About the author

Amanda Morin is the author of "The Everything Parent's Guide to Special Education" and the former director of thought leadership at Understood. As an expert and writer, she helped build Understood from its earliest days.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Whitney Hollins is a special education teacher and adjunct instructor at Hunter College.

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What types of accommodations can help students with dysgraphia? Here are dysgraphia accommodations teachers can give in the classroom.

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Individuals with dysgraphia may struggle with communication in school or their place of work. It is important to find strategies to help these individuals communicate their thoughts and ideas so they don''t feel excluded because of their disability. Individuals with dysgraphia can learn to use computers and touch-type to communicate their needs. Computers can support individuals with dysgraphia because they have software including spell-check to help these writers. Individuals with dysgraphia can also use audio-recording to take notes so that they can focus on the lesson/topic and not stress about taking notes.

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Dysgraphia is a specific learning difficulty that affects writing skills. While no two individuals will experience the same set of symptoms, dysgraphia can cause difficulty with forming letters, spacing words and even organizing text into complete sentences. Students with dysgraphia may struggle with taking notes in class, completing homework and long-term assignments, and performing well on traditional assessment measures.

Producing text by hand is often both difficult and painful, causing everything from cramping in the muscles of the hand to excessive sweating and high anxiety. Over time, this can lead to poor performance and falling behind in lessons due to an inability to take notes. It may also result in avoidance of school and extra-curricular activities that involve writing.

Fortunately, there are strategies and classroom accommodations for dysgraphia that can help. These include allowing the use of audio-recorders in the classroom and teaching touch-typing so computers can be used as an alternative to handwriting.

Note children who are just learning how to write will often exhibit many of the symptoms associated with dysgraphia, such as poorly formed letters and awkwardly spaced words. These symptoms will eventually go away as they become more skilled writers.

However, children with dysgraphia will continue to struggle when it comes to holding a writing utensil. They can have difficulty with letter formation, spacing, writing left to right, staying inside margins, spelling, punctuation, lower-case and capital letters and producing longer compositions in a set time frame.

Parents and teachers may observe awkward hand and arm placement during writing and holding the pen or pencil in an unnatural way.

Often their written work is difficult to read, either due to messiness and/or poorly formed letters. It can also be hard to follow. Young-adults and older children with dysgraphia may write below their ability level or produce text that doesn't express what they would like to say.

When a writing disorder is present, written work will not match an individual's ability to present information verbally and demonstrate their full understanding of a subject. Children with dysgraphia may also overly rely on vision to guide them and can have trouble with copying exercises.
TOP TIP: Children with dysgraphia can greatly benefit from early intervention and the introduction of coping strategies. One of the first steps is learning how to touch-type. Learn more about teaching kids typing.
The process of writing

Writing is a cognitively challenging activity that requires brainstorming ideas, translating them into language, accessing the orthographic encoding of words and then physically recording them on paper or a computer.

Good writers engage in a constant process of drafting and then revising text to ensure it flows and can be followed by a reader. When the process of translating ideas into written language is interrupted by dysgraphia, writers can lose their train of thought and have difficulty expressing themselves.

Language may be disordered or ungrammatical and text can fail to conform to accepted conventions for written work.

If the activity is stressful or produces anxiety and pain, students may experience a mental block and be unable to put any words down on paper. Similarly, they can be embarrassed by the number of red marks on a composition or their inability to earn a high grade despite spending an extensive amount of time and effort on a written project.

Learn more about motivating children and encouraging kids with learning difficulties in these articles.

Other learning difficulties

Dyslexia

Dysgraphia is not as well known as some specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia. But whereas a dyslexic child may struggle to split words into their component sounds and then map those sounds to letters, dysgraphia affects orthographic encoding or choosing the correct letter to match the sound.

ADHD

Dysgraphia can sometimes occur with ADHD. Children who struggle with attention disorders may produce messy written work and when dysgraphia is involved it can also be painful for them, particularly where handwriting is concerned.

Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is similar in that it affects the fine motor skills that are involved with handwriting and other school activities like using scissors or playing an instrument. However, dyspraxic children may also have issues with planning; these are not present with dysgraphia. Read more about dyspraxia vs. ADHD and helping dyspraxic children in the classroom in these posts.

Autism

Dysgraphia can present in individuals who have autism spectrum disorder and may already struggle with expressing themselves in speech or writing.

When dysgraphia goes untreated, a student can miss out on information communicated during classroom discussions, perform poorly on assessment measures and develop low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in the classroom. Learn more about self-esteem and the importance of helping students build confidence in these posts.

9 Tips for students with dysgraphia

1. Stretch out your hands. Before you begin an activity such as typing or handwriting, it's a good idea to shake your hands out, rotate your wrists, wiggle your fingers and maybe even squeeze a stress ball. Some people press their fingers into putty, anything to get the blood flowing and prepare the muscles.

2. Learn to touch-type. Computers are recommended for people with dysgraphia because they reduce the number of variables that need to be controlled including letter formation, letter and word spacing and even writing text left to right along a straight line. Moreover, they allow for ease of correction without the stigma of erasure marks and they provide access to spell-checkers. An individual who learns how to touch-type is even better off because they can use muscle memory in the hands to help with spelling and enhance literacy skills, such as decoding and sight-reading.

3. Use cursive vs. print. If you must write by hand, many experts see cursive as an easier medium than print because there is more connectivity between letters. This reduces the distraction caused by spacing. Cursive script also has fewer reversible letters and requires a steady movement and flow, which can be beneficial to individuals who struggle with fine motor skills.

4. Request accommodations. Students who struggle with dysgraphia should request accommodations in the classroom including being able to record classroom discussions and their teacher's instructions with an audio recorder, or use a computer to take notes and complete written assignments. Keep in mind dysgraphia can get in the way of performance, therefore, assessment measures might also need to be adjusted. For example, a short answer section could be replaced by multiple-choice questions that don't require text-based answers.

5. Try different paper and pens. It can sometimes make a difference to write by hand on paper that has thick or raised lines. Paper of different colors may also be beneficial. Fine motor skills affect the way an individual grips a writing utensil, thus consider using a thicker pen or a pencil with a rubber grip.

6. Make audio-recordings. Writing is a cognitively taxing activity for individuals that is made even more difficult when they have to both receive information during a lecture and write it down. Even copying text from the board is hard for someone who struggles with dysgraphia. That's why it is recommended that individuals bring an audio recording device or be provided with handouts that cover what was discussed. It can also be useful to pair a dysgraphic student up with a note-taking buddy.

7. Recite word spelling out loud. Spelling can sometimes be challenging because dysgraphia affects orthographic encoding or translating words into their component letters. Spelling out loud is not affected, therefore individuals should complete spelling quizzes verbally and recite a word's spelling quietly to themselves before attempting to write it down. It also helps to learn touch-typing as repeat drilling of a word means spelling is learned via muscle memory in the hands.

8. Brainstorm ideas before writing. When composition is affected at the phrase, sentence and paragraph level, it is often because there is difficulty in translating information and organizing it on paper. It can help to access prior knowledge of a topic and brainstorm ideas before you begin as this activates them in the brain and helps you prepare for writing.

9. Use outlines and multiple drafts. When organization and expression are still difficult, a student with dysgraphia may wish to make an outline that organizes ideas in a clear manner. Working in multiple drafts means there is less pressure or stress for getting something right on the first try. It's also a more natural approach to writing. Reviewing previous information and re-writing and adapting to ensure a reader can follow a train of thought are habits found in good writers.

Touch-type Read and Spell

Learning touch-typing can have a positive effect on the performance of individuals with dysgraphia because it makes it easier to express ideas in writing. Words flow through the fingertips and onto the screen without the disruption of manipulating a pen or correctly spacing characters.

Touch-type Read and Spell teaches touch-typing in a multi-sensory way via a modular approach that allows each student to progress at a rate that is right for him or her.

Built-in feedback and the opportunity to repeat lessons encourages self-directed study. Moreover, successfully completing a course and acquiring a new skill can help enhance self-esteem, build confidence and ease the anxiety and frustration students experience where writing is concerned.
Do you have any tips or strategies to add? Join the discussion in the comments!

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Read through our list of recommended strategies for dysgraphia and learn more about how to help children and adults who struggle with writing by hand.

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One strategy that families could use is tracing letters on the counter or anywhere so they get the feeling of the correct way to write it. Another way to practice at home is getting Play-Doh and making it into a letter to see what the letter looks like and being able to fix it if they make a mistake.

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Does your child struggle with handwriting? Has he been diagnosed with dysgraphia? These exercises from handwriting specialists are fun, effective and easy to practice at home.

Taking away one sense experience often heightens the others. Experts advise trying activities that help your kid focus on feeling-not seeing-how a letter is made.

For example, use your finger to trace a letter on your child's back. Or he can close his eyes while you trace a letter on his palm. Then see if he can reproduce that letter on your back or on a piece of paper.

You can make things more challenging by writing a capital letter and asking him to write it as a lowercase one, or vice versa.

Kids with dysgraphia usually have trouble remembering how to form letters correctly. One way therapists make the process more memorable is by having kids write in ways that use large motor movements and multisensory materials.

At home, young kids can spray big shaving cream letters on the tile wall at bath time. Or they can smooth out the cream on the tile and write letters in the foam. They can practice making letters in a plastic tub of damp sand. Adding sand to finger paint is another way to increase sensory input.

Clay is a wonderfully versatile medium. It's dense and responsive. And mistakes can disappear with just a pinch.

Roll clay into ropes and practice making letters with your child. It builds hand strength and boosts fine motor skills. And it reinforces the shapes of letters in his mind, too.

Another option: Smooth a layer of clay on a cookie sheet. Then invite your child to etch letters into the surface with a pencil. The clay provides sensory feedback, which gives more information to the brain about how the letters are formed.

Holding a pencil properly is a challenge for many kids with writing difficulties. Your child can strengthen his fingers and improve his "pencil grip" using "pinching" tools found around the house. These include tweezers, children's chopsticks (joined at one end) and ice tongs.

Try this game: Toss pieces of cereal, balled-up scraps of paper or small pencil erasers onto a tabletop. Then see how many you and your child can pick up with a pinching tool in a minute.

Another option: Play board games and use pinching tools to move the playing pieces.

5. Start cross-body training.

For a child to write properly, both sides of his body need to work together: One arm holds the paper stable. The other does the actual pencil work.

Any activity that encourages coordinated movement on both sides of the body provides good reinforcement. This includes crafts that use scissors: One hand holds, the other cuts.

Physical exercises that require cross-body coordination are helpful, too. See if your child will give windmills, jumping jacks, touching alternate toes, and mountain climbers a whirl before sitting down to write.

6. Build strength and stability.

Writing may not seem physically demanding. But sitting properly and controlling pen and paper require muscle strength and stability in the shoulders and core.

Activities that condition these areas can help. These include planks, push-ups, wheelbarrow walking, crab walking, shooting baskets, hanging from monkey bars and rope climbing. Even reading while lying tummy-down on the floor builds strength.

So set aside time for your child to include activities like these in his day. He can do them at a local gym, at the playground, or right in your own backyard or playroom.

7. Practice "organized" storytelling.

Kids with dysgraphia often have trouble organizing their thoughts. You can help your child by practicing structured storytelling.

At bedtime, ask him to tell you about his day. Have him start with an introduction, like "Today was Thursday and boy, was it a busy day for me and my friends." Ask him to describe what he did in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. Then he can wrap things up with how the day went overall.

You can use this approach with just about any experience your child wants to share with you.

Kids with dysgraphia may be brimming with great ideas. But putting those ideas into written words can be a frustrating hurdle for them.

Encourage your child to record himself (on a smartphone or other device) while he talks through his thoughts or the story he'd like to tell. He can then play the recording back when he sits down to write. This can be a helpful and confidence-boosting tool.

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8 Expert Tips on Helping Your Child With Dysgraphia

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Learn about skillbuilding and strengthening activities that can help kids who struggle with handwriting. Get tips for helping your child with dysgraphia.

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Accommodations for Testing and Completing Assignments - Hannah Yeykal

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Accommodations for Testing and Completing Assignments - Hannah Yeykal

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It can be very helpful to provide students with dysgraphia with tests and assignments that do not involve a lot of handwriting. For example, multiple-choice tests where students can simply circle the answer are a very good option for these students. In cases where this may not be possible, providing the student with speech-to-text software could be very helpful. Also, ensuring the students are being graded on their knowledge rather than their written expression abilities is very important. Many of them know a lot more information than they are capable of writing down. Thus, it is essential that they are given an outlet to truly showcase their knowledge. Furthermore, students with dysgraphia may need extra time on tests and homework. Since these written expressions are difficult for students, they may take longer to complete the tests and assignments.

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Students with dysgraphia can have trouble with handwriting, typing, and spelling. What classroom accommodations can help? Here are some ways teachers can make all aspects of writing easier.

Classroom materials and routines

Provide pencil grips or different types of pens or pencils to see what works best for the student.

Provide handouts so there's less to copy from the board.

Provide typed copies of classroom notes or lesson outlines to help the student take notes.

Provide extra time to take notes and copy material.

Allow the student to use an audio recorder or a laptop in class.

Provide paper with different-colored or raised lines to help form letters in the right space.

Provide graph paper (or lined paper to be used sideways) to help line up math problems.

Provide paper assignments with name, date, title, etc., already filled in.

Provide information needed to start writing assignments early.

Help the student break writing assignments into steps.

Provide a rubric and explain how each step is graded.

Give examples of finished assignments.

Offer alternatives to written responses, like giving an oral report.

Completing tests and assignments

Adapt test formats to cut down on handwriting. For example, use "circle the answer" or "fill in the blank" questions.

Grade based on what the student knows, not on handwriting or spelling.

Use a scribe or speech-to-text so the student can dictate test answers and writing assignments.

Let the student choose to either print or use cursive for handwritten responses.

Allow a "proofreader" to look for errors.

Provide extended time on tests.

Provide a quiet room for tests if needed.

Does your child struggle with handwriting? Explore fun, effective expert tips to practice at home.

About the author

About the author

Amanda Morin is the author of "The Everything Parent's Guide to Special Education" and the former director of thought leadership at Understood. As an expert and writer, she helped build Understood from its earliest days.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Whitney Hollins is a special education teacher and adjunct instructor at Hunter College.

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What types of accommodations can help students with dysgraphia? Here are dysgraphia accommodations teachers can give in the classroom.

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Challenges/Barriers for Family - Hannah Yeykal

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Challenges/Barriers for Family - Hannah Yeykal

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When a child is first diagnosed, parents may have a hard time understanding the gap between things the child can perform successfully and those they cannot. It may be difficult for them to comprehend how their child can be so intelligent, yet struggle with a task such as writing. They also may have a hard time distinguishing between tasks their child is unable to do and tasks the child will not do. Since dysgraphia occurs in young children, it can be difficult to determine whether or not certain skills are unable to be completed due to defiance or inability. Finding the ability to solve everyday problems that arise as a result of the disability can be stressful for families and in some situations cause tension in the household.

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Children with learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and related disorders puzzle parents because of their many abilities and disabilities. It can also be difficult to understand how much of their behavior is the nature of the condition and how much is oppositional. It is all too easy for parents to sense a child's feelings of inadequacy and then feel bad as a parent. Parenting approaches that include clear, concise instructions; structure without rigidity; nurturing a child's gifts and interests; and constant approval of positive behavior help parents feel better and help children feel safe. It takes time for both children and parents to embrace the concept that being different does not mean being inferior and, in fact, can be a good thing. Parents need to be nurtured and praised to help them nurture and praise their children. Most parents use almost every resource they have to help their children flourish, and still, they worry they are not doing a good enough job. Usually they are!

Introduction

Few people realize how difficult it is to be a parent... until they become a parent. Parents are totally responsible for the safety, welfare, and education of a tiny infant who quickly becomes a growing, ever-changing, maturing child. Parents have to set their own rules, develop their own routines, and form their own expectations. When parents are married, differences of opinions have to be worked out with the greater good of the child held aloft. If it is difficult to be a parent, it is even more difficult to be a parent of a child with special needs.

Discovering the Problem

Discovering a child's special needs is often a confusing and painful process for parents. First of all, because learning difficulties can be subtle, multiple, and difficult to pinpoint, it can be hard for parents to know whether things are normal or not. Especially with a first child, parents may not know when to expect vocalizing, playing with sounds, and learning to speak. It is also difficult to distinguish between a healthy, very active toddler and a hyperactive toddler with ADHD. What is the difference between the child who is a little clumsy (which will be outgrown) and a child having significant motor skills problems? What are the indications of children being off course in their ability to listen and follow directions? It may take some time for parents to recognize and articulate concerns.

Even after a diagnosis, parents often face a whole gamut of emotions before they can grapple effectively with the stark truth that their child has learning disabilities. Parents may move through emotions like Kubler-Ross' ( 1980) stages of grief, initially denying there is a problem and rationalizing why it's not a problem, then having to deal with the fear, the anger, and the guilt of having a child who experiences many difficulties. It is normal for parents to want to blame somebody - anybody - and to bargain in the sense of thinking that changing neighborhoods, schools, or doctors might make the problems go away. Grieving for what might have been follows, and finally parents can come to accept the child's strengths and weaknesses and try to figure out a helpful plan of action (Kubler-Ross, 1980; Smith, 1995).

Neurologic Basis

Parents often feel guilty because they feel their child's learning disabilities, ADHD, and related disorders are somehow their fault. But, that is not true. Parents may tend to feel that if they had been stricter, demanded more, forced more practice, it would have changed the situation. That would not have changed the situation.

Children and adults with learning disabilities often have clusters of difficulties that lead to academic failure or low achievement. These disabilities emanate from a neurophysiological base. It is as though the switchboard of the brain short circuits some of the information coming in, scrambles it, and then loose wires interfere with the ability to get that information out. This neurological dysfunction contributes to disorder, disorganization, and problems with communication. Parents can be reassured that these problems are organic and are not caused by external factors (Smith, 1991; 1995).

For years there have been nay-sayers who claim that there is no such thing as learning disabilities - that there are lazy children and motivated students, that there are stupid children and bright students. However, technological advances over the last 5-10 years have laid those issues to rest. Brain researchers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shown differences between the brains of individuals with learning disabilities and those without (Dr. Martha Denckla, personal communication). Researchers have also found images of ADHD in the central nervous system (Dr. Xavier Castellanos, personal communication). The architecture of the brain of the child with learning disabilities is different.

Brain researchers also point out that neuronal links in the brain typically travel in particular patterns, but in individuals with learning disabilities, they are scattershot all over the brain, resulting in unusual linkages (Dr. Gordon Sherman, quoted in The Doctor is In, 1988). Consequently, exceptional disabilities are often linked with exceptional abilities. As an example, for over 35 years, graduates of the Lab School of Washington have become very successful in the arts as graphic artists, film makers, fashion designers, jewelry makers, actors, architects, photographers, musicians, dancers, and computer graphic specialists. A number of the graduates have also become highly successful entrepreneurs and business executives. Parents can take reassurance in the fact that many abilities usually accompany the constellation of problems or cluster of difficulties that constitute learning disabilities.

Understanding Behaviors

It is often confusing to parent children with learning disabilities, ADHD, and related disorders. One of the biggest confusions and challenges parents face is the large hiatus between what the children can do and what they cannot do. Often they are very smart, know a great deal, and reason well, yet cannot read or write. School teachers and family may be telling them to try harder, and they are usually trying their hearts out. They tend to work 10 times harder than everyone else does, but still they may be called lazy.

Another aspect of the confusion for parents lies in how hard it can be to distinguish between a child who can't do something and a child who won't do something. For parents, it can be vexing not to be able to control a 5 or 6-year-old or to know whether to push an adolescent or reduce expectations. In this confusion, parents tend to ask, What is wrong with me? rather than What challenges is my child having to face? Shifting this focus can be therapeutic for parents and children.

Children may seem to be having behavior problems when, in fact, they are confronting difficulties in accomplishing a task. Children tend to withdraw or act out when a task is too demanding. It can help parents to know that when children say they hate something that usually serves as a wonderful diagnostic tool, indicating what is difficult or impossible for them. For example, when a child loves dance, art, and music but hates drama, it could be that the child has a speech/language problem. When a child hates math or reading, these are likely areas of difficulty. Conversely, what children like and want to do usually serve as indicators of their strengths.

While a diagnosis will help to some extent, the job of sorting out these issues on a day-to-day basis is no small task. On a planning level, confusion occurs because teachers, doctors, psychologists, and social workers may disagree not only on diagnosis but on the best treatments or programs for a child. This can be frustrating and anxiety-provoking for parents who have to pull all the information together and decide what to do, right or wrong. Additionally, at home and elsewhere, parents must anticipate problems and sense when their children are tired, or frustrated, or about to explode. Parents must trust their guts as to how long the child can last at a party, or sit in a restaurant, or be pleasant with visitors. While parents have to do this with all children, it is much more challenging with this population.

Parents of children with special needs are constantly trying to puzzle out what's working, what's not working, what causes the child's frustration, and what brings the child pleasure. Parents have to analyze everything, think carefully, reflect on activities of each day, and problem solve to recognize the child's strengths, interests, and areas of difficulty, and come up with plans for managing the child's behavior and supporting the child's development.

The Family with the Child with Special Needs

Learning disabilities can be hard on a family. One parent, often the mother, may recognize and face the problem sooner or more readily than the other. Misunderstanding and conflict can result. Brothers and sisters often resent the amount of attention given to a child with special needs and may proclaim knowingly that the child is a spoiled brat who is perfectly capable. Grandparents tend to blame parents for not doing enough, not being disciplined enough, organized enough, or not giving enough direct help to the child. Neighbors can be intolerant if the child is very hyperactive or has low frustration tolerance and tends to explode or cry at each hurdle.

On a daily basis, children with special needs typically raise the irritant factor in family life. They tend to leave everyone on edge because their behavior is unpredictable, erratic, inconsistent and full of ups-and-downs. Children with learning disabilities and ADHD are usually very disorganized. They have trouble dealing with sequences and order, so they don't plan well. They are distracted easily and often impulsive. Just getting washed and dressed in the morning can be an arduous task. Sometimes resulting in explosions on the part of the children, their parents, or both. Clashes frequently emanate from a child's misunderstanding of instructions or going off on a tangent. To complicate the problem, when wrong or criticized, children with learning disabilities tend to fall apart, withdraw into day dreaming, or strike out in one form or another.

Emotionally this population is very immature and fragile. These children tend to personalize things that have nothing to do with them. For example, when family members are laughing at something, children with special needs are often convinced that they are being laughed at, and, as a result, they get very upset. Furthermore, their moods swing widely, and a child may be laughing one moment, crying the next (Smith, 1995). This emotional lability is hard to live with. Children with learning disabilities and ADHD are prone to depression (Smith, 1991). Their sense of defeat and failure is contagious and, sometimes, the whole family feels their helplessness and despair. Often adults, otherwise incredibly competent in their daily lives, feel incredibly incompetent when with these children. This can take a toll on parents, and support and education may be necessary to bolster parents' sense of confidence and competence in effectively parenting the child with learning disabilities.

Parenting Strategies

Addressing difficulties with time and space. Space and time are organizing systems involved in every task, every performance and every aspect of life. Yet, because of central nervous system dysfunction, neural immaturity that tends to disorder, and poor organization, many children with learning disabilities are very disorganized - unable to keep their rooms anything but a complete mess, unable to accomplish even the simplest task in a timely fashion, unable to follow instructions, likely to lose belongings frequently, and appearing lost in time and space. Problems with sequencing explain why they have trouble remembering the days of the week, seasons, the alphabet, counting, and the order of tasks and instructions. These problems are why they have trouble beginning projects, sustaining them, and finishing them. Poor organization not only affects home life and relationships with friends, who will take only a certain amount of forgetting and lateness, but also academic life. Poor organization means forgetting to bring home the homework or not having the time management skills to meet deadlines. It affects being able to establish priorities -what is most important to study, what is less so. Often this disorganized behavior looks oppositional and hostile, when actually it stems from the very nature of the learning disability.

Parents and teachers of children with learning disabilities can help them by providing clear structuring of time and space. To help children with structuring space, visual aids can be useful. For example, shelves can be used instead of drawers so children can see where things belong and how to put them back. The use of other visual cues, such as lists or labels, can augment efforts to help children organize tasks and belongings.

Developing understandable and reinforced routines can help with structuring time. Breaking routines and other tasks into manageable chunks and communicating what must be done first, next, and last is important. A large number of children with learning disabilities have language learning disabilities, which means they have trouble deciphering language, listening, and following instructions. Because of this, it is also helpful if parents and teachers limit the number of words used in giving directions, using simple phrases such as. Go upstairs. Close the window. Come down.

Parents can also assist their children by engaging them in planning activities. Examples include planning celebrations, planning a garden, organizing what needs to be done to collect food for the homeless, or any other kind of planning that involves developing lists, going shopping, checking off the lists, and then charting the tasks still to be done (which can then in turn be checked off). All of these projects are useful, engaging, and have the hidden agenda of working on organization skills.

Addressing relationship difficulties. While children with learning disabilities face challenges academically, a problem that many parents find more troubling than difficulties with the 3 R's (reading, writing, `rithmetic) is the 4th R: relationships. Many children with learning disabilities cannot play successfully with even one child and certainly not two. They don't read social signals: facial expressions, gestures, or tones of voice any more than they read letters or words. Additionally, many of these children are literal and concrete; they cannot deal with subtleties, nuances, inferences, or multiple meanings. This affects family life and peer relationships because they often cannot understand jokes, subtle teasing, or sarcasm. One of the consequences of this is that they have to be taught explicitly how to relate to others. Parents have to work with them on reading faces, reading gestures and movements, and learning what is and is not appropriate to say. Parents may have to coach them through common social situations until they develop appropriate interpersonal behaviors.

Parents can provide their children with practice in anticipating what might happen in various social situations. They can role-play with their children about what to do or say when they want to join a game that their cousins or friends are playing, or when grandparents say, "Read this to me." Some parents have found it useful to show the wrong way of handling a situation and then to have their children critique them. The process of acting situations out, problem solving, and talking about the situations, helps many children with learning disabilities and ADHD think through various options.

Promoting self-esteem. Early on, children with learning disabilities begin to notice that others can do tasks easily that are intensely difficult for them, and they begin to feel bad about themselves. They may receive frequent criticism or, at best, global praise such as "You are doing better" (better than what?), "You are doing fine" (what is fine?), "You are making progress" (what is progress?). Criticism damages self-esteem, and global praise is often too abstract to be meaningful to concrete thinkers.

By training themselves to comment on the positive as much as possible, by offering concrete comments on what their child is doing well, and by using very specific praise, parents will cultivate desired behaviors and boost their children's self-esteem (Smith, 2001). Examples of specific praise include phrases such as: You finished the assignment, You are listening carefully, You are sitting properly and looking at me, You remembered to bring home the work you have do, You cleaned the table after dinner, You picked up the bag the lady dropped. Thank you. With specific praise, a child can be very clear on what behaviors are liked and expected.

Visual, concrete proof of progress also helps children notice and feel confident about their progress and accomplishments. Home made certificates, gold stars, stickers, charts, and check lists with lots of checks can be used when children work hard on tasks at home, such as remembering to take out the garbage, shopping without forgetting, setting the table correctly, making their beds, and putting the toilet paper into the holder when the last piece has gone.

Parents and teachers also boost children's self-esteem by seeking out what they can do well and fostering and supporting these areas to the hilt. Whether it is an art form, science, nature, photography, computer work, selling things, inventing, or telling stories, children with learning disabilities need parental support to become the best in this area at home and to bring their talent into school. It won't help them feel better about their academic performance, but it will help them feel better about themselves.

Teaching children that many people have overcome difficulties to become successful is another valuable parenting strategy. One way to do this is to read or play tapes of biographies in which children or adults have had to struggle to achieve their goals -adventures where the characters got lost or had to fight sharks or other beasts; stories of achieving despite illness or disability; or stories of fighting prejudice or unfairness. Children enjoy and benefit from discussing these kinds of challenges. Additionally, when parents can introduce their children to highly effective members of society who struggle with disabilities, particularly disabilities similar to those the child faces, children can hold their heads higher. All members of society who are functioning well with learning disabilities and ADHD - firemen, policemen, plumbers, day care center workers, business executives, park rangers, recreation coaches, athletes, and celebrities can serve as role models and inspiration for children with learning disabilities.

When parents learn to cherish diversity, their children learn there are many different ways to celebrate birthdays, get married, raise children, and so forth (Smith, 1994). These children feel better about themselves when they understand that doing things differently, learning differently, being different is OK, and that differences can enrich our lives. Artist Chuck Close said, I think accomplishment is figuring out your own idiosyncratic solutions. Accomplishment is being able to do what you want to do even if you don't do it the way everybody else does it. (Smith, 1991, p. 703, and personal communication).

Empowerment. Children with learning disabilities and ADHD often feel powerless and inadequate. They tend to be passive learners and need to be totally involved in activities to make them active learners. Parents can encourage hands-on activities, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, and running errands to show children that they can make things happen. These learning activities have the additional benefit of resulting in tangible, visible products appreciated by the whole family.

Parents must beware of doing too much for children with learning disabilities because that does not empower them. The effects of active engagement are in fact neurological. California neurobiologist Marion Diamond's research (Diamond & Hopson, 1998) shows that the sights and sounds of enriched environments cause dendrites to form neural pathways that she calls magic trees of the mind. Her data demonstrate that the curious mind, stimulated to further inquiry, makes the central cortex thicker, activating the brain to further enhance learning (Smith, 1995).

Parents can also empower their children to view obstacles as challenges and to know that they have a lot going for them and a team behind them. It helps children with learning disabilities when parents can adopt a problem-solving mode rather than always providing the answers. It helps to say. What can we do about this? What options do we have? Let's figure out where we can find the information we need instead of doling out the right answer much of the time. Parenting children with learning disabilities and ADHD demands enormous amount of problem solving, and on top of that, parents need to help turn their children into outstanding problem solvers. Grappling with adversity, figuring out strategies that work for them, and learning when to ask for help and who to ask are crucial life skills that these children must learn and will hold them in good stead.

Parents can foster curiosity in their children and lay the framework for thinking and questioning. When children's minds are questioning everything, their bodies are active, and their hands are into things, children are helped to achieve the highest cognitive development possible. Parents work with their children to develop critical thinking skills when they have them look at photos or drawings and piece together what could be going on; when the family watches a TV show and the children are asked what the big message was; when a mystery story has been read and the children guess who did it; or when a family plays games like chess, checkers, Clue,® and Stratego™. Children often can teach their parents how to work computers, and programs like HyperStudio® allow children to draw, to photograph, to speak, to scan objects from the Internet, and to make rewarding, satisfying multimedia presentations that simultaneously use and develop many skills.

Cultivating Parental Optimism

Because it can be frustrating to parent children with learning disabilities and behavioral challenges, it is encouraging for parents to know that some of the negative behaviors of their children very often become positive attributes in adulthood. For example, the most stubborn children often turn out to have fierce determination. The most manipulative children often turn out to be fabulous entrepreneurs, leaders, or politicians. The children who argue all the time like jail house lawyers actually become lawyers, and those who doodle and draw all through school may well become artists in adulthood. In 35 years of experience at the Lab School in Washington, DC, this pattern has been evidenced again and again. The boy who sold his mother's jewelry for 25 cents apiece grew up to be a real estate mogul. The boys who were tinkerers, taking everything apart, became mechanical engineers. The girl who tried to help her classmates avoid arguing, who was teased because she was always trying to make peace and never projected any opinion of her own, became a mediator - and a good one at that! Numbers of very hyperactive youngsters have turned out to be very energetic, productive entrepreneurs. The inflexible one way kids have often become scientists who study one problem in depth for many years or airplane controllers who focus intensely on the task at hand. Many bright children with ADHD, who were impulsive, very distractible, and had poor attention spans, have grown up to be outstanding emergency health care specialists, paramedics, and firemen. In an emergency, their adrenaline is apparently stimulated, so they become highly focused, able to put their excellent analytic abilities to use while doing many tasks.

Self-care should be a priority for parents of children with learning disabilities. Parents themselves need nurturing to help nurture their child with special needs. They need to go out and have fun regularly. They need more sleep than other parents, for these children sap their energy, and their condition demands help from parents constantly. Finding supportive friends or relatives, or locating a support group or an online parent support community can provide a place for parents to vent frustrations and obtain valuable suggestions, strategies, and support. Laughter is also important for parents and the whole family. Children with learning disabilities and ADHD need to feel that it is not the end of the world that they have these disabilities - nuisances - and they need to laugh at some of the nonsense they go through. Parents, too, need lightness and humor. When parents can have fun with their children - even being silly and laughing - and can enjoy life as much as possible together, everyone benefits.

It is hard to be a grownup, difficult to be a parent, even more challenging to be a parent of a child with special needs when the parent must become the analyst, the interpreter, the problem solver, the cheerleader, the lawyer, the psychiatrist, the spiritual advisor, the organizer, the notetaker, the friend, companion, advocate, and disciplinarian. Most parents use every resource they have to help their child flourish, and yet, they worry they are not doing enough or a good enough job. Chances are parents are doing an incredibly fine job under difficult circumstances. Professionals need to realize and appreciate the heavy load carried by parents of children with learning disabilities, ADHD, and other related disorders.

References
Diamond, M. & Hopson, J. (1998). Magic trees of the mind: How to nurture your child's intelligence, creativity, and healthy emotions. New York: Penguin Books.
Kubler-Ross, E. (1980). Death ...the final stage of growth. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Smith, S.L. (1991) Succeeding against the odds. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.
Smith, S.L. (1994). Different is not bad, different is the world. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Smith, S.L. (1995). No easy answers. New York: Bantam.
Smith, S.L. (2001). The power of the arts: Creative strategies for exceptional learners. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
The Doctor Is In. (1988). (Video). Lebanon, NJ: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

About the author: Sally L. Smith, MA, BA, (deceased) was Founder and Director, The Lab School of Washington: Head, Graduate Program, Special Education: Learning Disabilities. American University, Washington, DC. This article first appeared in Pediatric Nursing, May/June 2002 Volume 28/Number 3 and is reprinted here with permission.

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Parenting Children with Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and Related Disorders

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Children with learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and related disorders puzzle parents because of their many abilities and disabilities. It can also be difficult to understand how much of their behavior is the nature of the condition and how much is oppositional.

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Transition to Adulthood- Lauren Brocious

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Transition to Adulthood- Lauren Brocious

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The challenge people face in school is not being able to take notes on paper alone in school. They usually need assistance from a teacher or peer. What could help them is using a computer or speaking into the computer so they learn independence. Going into the post-secondary setting with dysgraphia you could struggle with independently writing down homework or tasks that need to get done. Some tips would be computers so they could speak into the computer

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How can we better understand and support children with dysgraphia?

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Students with dysgraphia may become discouraged and feel embarrassed of their work. Adults and students with dysgraphia may feel like they aren't skilled enough for specific tasks because their knowledge isn't matching with their ability. Using technology and typing instead of writing may help people with dysgraphia feel more confident in their work. People with dysgraphia can also create drafts of their projects in order to feel confident in their final product.

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Dysgraphia is a learning difficulty, also sometimes referred to as a learning disability or a learning difference, that primarily affects writing skills. Adults with dysgraphia have a hard time writing by hand and may struggle with letter formation, letter, word and line spacing, staying inside the margins, neatness, capitalization/punctuation rules, spelling, word choice, and even grammar.

As opposed to agraphia, in which writing loss is acquired, individuals with dysgraphia are typically born with the condition. As children they may have found school particularly challenging, given the importance of literacy skills and the emphasis on having neat handwriting at the elementary/primary level.

Thankfully, technology exists that can help both children and adults with dysgraphia overcome the challenges they experience and take positive steps toward achieving their full potential in the classroom or workplace.

While there is no consensus on what percentage of the population struggles with dysgraphia, many sources suggest it is one of the most under-diagnosed of the specific learning difficulties. That's because adults can present with a wide range of symptoms that vary in their severity. In certain cases of dysgraphia, writing is legible but slow and labored. In others, it's unnecessarily brief and difficult to read.

Dysgraphia can be masked by co-occurring issues. For example, it can present with attention difficulties like ADHD, motor skills difficulties, expressive and receptive processing disorders, and/or dyslexia. It can be severe and cause an almost total lack of writing ability, or it can be mild and only disturb one aspect of the writing process, such as the coherence of written text vs. the physical act of putting words on paper.

Recognizing dysgraphia in adults

Many adults who are living with undiagnosed dysgraphia have developed coping strategies to help them get by at work and at school. They might avoid taking pen and paper notes and prefer to type on a computer or use a smartphone instead.

Some adults take pictures of white-boards or make audio recordings of presentations. Others are overly eager to obtain electronic copies of slides. It's not uncommon to find a reliance on voice-mails and verbal messaging instead of emails and texts. Some adults with dysgraphia use speech-to-text technology to produce messages.

If ADHD is present, sitting still can be problematic so they may pace around and enlist the help of a secretary to transcribe their ideas.

Because filling in forms with small boxes can be particularly hard, some people hire others to do paperwork for them.

It's not uncommon for individuals to attribute illegible written work to poor penmanship and lacking spelling skills - both of which are culturally acceptable excuses that allow a person to "save face" in front of friends and family.

Nonetheless, as opposed to someone who simply has messy handwriting, an individual with dysgraphia is more likely to suffer from anxiety and stress as a result of having to write.

The emotional consequences of learning difficulties

Dysgraphia is not related to intelligence, but it can hold a person back and affect their emotional state and life-satisfaction.

As a child.

An otherwise bright child who struggles to write may fall behind as literacy skills become essential for success across the curriculum. This is true in early grades where writing instruction is first undertaken, and in high school where word limits and text complexity expectations are higher. Not being able to write neatly long after peers have mastered letter shapes can be embarrassing for a child.

Low grades on spelling quizzes may be de-motivating, as can be the need for extra time to complete worksheets in class. Without handwritten notes, it is harder for students to study for tests. Essay writing, particularly on exams, may be a challenge. When writing in groups or on the board, a student may be ridiculed by peers for messy and illegible writing. All of these factors can cause a child to believe he or she is bad at writing and at school.

Embarrassment and feeling ashamed of one's writing skills can lead to isolation, low self-esteem and depression. When a secondary learning difficulty like ADHD is present, there may be an effort to mask perceived deficiencies through acting out and calling attention to oneself for the wrong reasons.

As an adult.

At the office, adults can easily become demotivated if their performance on work projects doesn't match up to their knowledge or ability. A valuable employee may carry a secret sense of shame and live in fear that their lacking skills will be discovered by superiors and co-workers. In more mild cases, adults with dysgraphia can become embarrassed about their writing skills and feel self-conscious.

They might believe they are less skilled or less deserving of more challenging tasks in the workplace. Not only does this fear prevent a highly skilled worker from pursuing promotions and advancing in a company, but it can also limit the scope of his or her career choices.

In personal life, administrative tasks may be more difficult to accomplish because of dysgraphia. Forms that are filled out incorrectly can cause delays and penalties or expose an individual to legal challenges. At home, adults with dysgraphia may find helping their children with homework or spelling quizzes is a struggle and writing notes for the child to take to school may be difficult.

All of this can cause a general dissatisfaction with life and lead to depression and unhappiness, particularly when a person is prevented from pursuing their dreams because of lacking literacy skills. Learn more about the emotional consequences of functional illiteracy in adults.

5 Approaches that can help

1. Learn to type on a computer or tablet.
It's often recommended that individuals who struggle with handwriting, especially when motor skills difficulties are present, be allowed to use a tablet, phone or computer to type. This is because typing on a keyboard takes care of many of the presentation aspects of writing, from letter formation to spacing and neatness. It's easier to hit a button than to write a letter.

Computers also make it much easier to move text around, edit longer pieces and utilize proofreading tools, such as spelling and grammar checks. Fortunately, it's now commonplace for adults to use a laptop in the classroom, which makes the transition from handwriting to typing much easier for mature students. Switching to electronic text in the workplace is also easier given supervisors recognize it as a more efficient way of converting information from emails and data systems into project briefs and reports.

Using a keyboard to touch-type is also relatively faster than handwriting, particularly for people who struggle with slow writing because of their dysgraphia. This means note-taking is facilitated and that individuals can keep their eyes up and focused on content, without being distracted by the mechanics of writing.
Top Tip: Dysgraphia tends to have. more of an impact on handwriting skills than typing, but not everyone finds typing an easy skill to learn. Touch-type Read and Spell offers a typing program that can help people with learning difficulties master keyboarding in a self-paced and adult-friendly way. It uses multi-sensory learning and a phonics-based curriculum to boost literacy skills and confidence at the same time. Positive effects can be seen with as little as 10 minutes of practice a day.

2. Try pen and paper accommodations.
If handwriting is required, there are certain things someone with dysgraphia can do to make letter formation and spacing easier. One approach might be writing on lined or graph paper. This can help with letter sizes, particularly if there is a dotted line. Using brightly colored paper, paper of different sizes and weights, sticky notes or even rough textured surfaces, may also work.

It can be helpful to write with thicker utensils or use rubber pen/pencil grips - this is a recommended accommodation for individuals with motor skills difficulties too. Some individuals will want to avoid pencils that cause them to bear down excessively, or fountain pens with free-flowing ink that can result in blotches if there is a pause during writing. Keeping erasers and white-out close by is also a good idea.

3. Use charts and organizers.
When dysgraphia affects an individual's ability to articulate ideas, mind-maps and mental organizers can play an important role in the early writing process. Remember that some mind maps come in the form of printable worksheets with small boxes and circles in which to write ideas.

This type of activity is not necessarily easy for someone with dysgraphia. Instead, play to an individual's strengths and consider a verbal brainstorming session. You can even record it using speech to text technology to save the process of typing up all of the key terms generated. Additionally, there's plenty of outlining and mind mapping technology available that can be used to create electronic displays to organize and structure learning and ideas.

4. Write in drafts.
Some individuals expect text to come out right away, but not even seasoned authors can write a perfect sentence without a few revisions. Working in drafts is thus encouraged no matter what kind of project you're working on, from emails to essays and reports.

Rough drafts give you a chance to get your ideas out. You can organize them more effectively in subsequent drafts and also work on aspects of proofreading such as grammar, spelling, punctuation and referencing. You may want to take advantage of some free online tools too, to help with the editing process. Or, have someone else read through your work to see if the ideas flow.

In a work setting this may be a trusted colleague. At school, you could visit a writing tutor or ask a classmate if they'd like to switch papers and exchange some feedback.

5. Make writing a regular activity.
The more you practice literacy skills, the stronger they become. Try to get into a regular habit with writing. Choose a time of day when you are most awake and sit down to work on one project at a time. Working in thirty-minute stints is a good way to start. Write whatever comes into your mind until the time is up then try to organize and revise once you've made it past the half-hour mark.

There are some fun apps that can help with this, such as Forest, where you plant trees the more writing sessions you accomplish without looking down at your phone.

It may also be worth hiring a private writing tutor. This is particularly true for adults with dysgraphia who have missed out on writing skills development in school due to an undiagnosed learning difficulty.

Motivation and self-efficacy

Writing is a highly complex skill with both lower and higher order processes occurring simultaneously. That's why it's important to stay motivated as you work toward improving your skills.

One way to do this is to set long-term learning goals for yourself. These may be related to the amount of writing you do or the type of writing you work on.

You might create rewards for yourself and break your goals down into manageable steps. For example, work on the structure of your writing one week, and focus on spelling and punctuation the next. Learn more in these posts on writing skills development and spelling for adults.

ADHD, dyspraxia, and dysgraphia

Dysgraphia can exist on its own or it can co-present with other learning and motor skills difficulties. Individuals who struggle with ADHD and dysgraphia may also have trouble focusing on the task at hand. When hyperactivity is present, sitting still may be a challenge and misspellings may be more common due to impulsivity.

Writing can be messy and concentrating long enough to proofread work can be near impossible. Learn more about adult ADHD.

Dyspraxia is a motor skills coordination difficulty that can cause writing by hand to be physically painful. It can also affet planning skills, which relates to organizing ideas in a piece of writing. Additionally, dyspraxia can result in sensitivity to light and noise.

When dyspraxia and dysgraphia are both present, an adult may find writing by hand cognitively and physically draining. Learn more about motor skills and dyspraxia in adults.

Dysgraphia with dyslexia

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty or difference that affects reading and spelling skills. It commonly affects an individual's ability to hear the sounds that make up words. This in turn complicates decoding and encoding. When dysgraphia and dyslexia are both present, reading and writing may be a struggle. Learn more about where to find help for adult dyslexia and how they test for dyslexia in these articles.

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Learn how to recognize dysgraphia in adults and discover different approaches for improving writing skills in the classroom or workplace.

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Individuals with dysgraphia may face a wide variety of problems throughout their life. It is important for the individual and those around them to be proactive in preparing for these issues. When the person is at home, it may be beneficial for families to talk through issues that may arise to prepare the individual for times when they come about. Giving the individual tools to prepare for problems allows them to deal with them more effectively. They will feel less stressed when various situations do arise. Also, giving them the opportunity to make decisions at home and express these decisions in various ways can provide them with a safe space to begin building these skills. Learning various ways to express their thoughts and opinions at home can allow them to problem solve more effectively in other settings.

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When it comes to learning disabilities, look at the big picture

All children need love, encouragement, and support, and for kids with learning disabilities, such positive reinforcement can help ensure that they emerge with a strong sense of self-worth, confidence, and the determination to keep going even when things are tough.

In searching for ways to help children with learning disabilities, remember that you are looking for ways to help them help themselves. Your job as a parent is not to "cure" the learning disability, but to give your child the social and emotional tools they need to work through challenges. In the long run, facing and overcoming a challenge such as a learning disability can help your child grow stronger and more resilient.

Always remember that the way you behave and respond to challenges has a big impact on your child. A good attitude won't solve the problems associated with a learning disability, but it can give your child hope and confidence that things can improve and that they will eventually succeed.

Tips for dealing with your child's learning disability

Keep things in perspective. A learning disability isn't insurmountable. Remind yourself that everyone faces obstacles. It's up to you as a parent to teach your child how to deal with those obstacles without becoming discouraged or overwhelmed. Don't let the tests, school bureaucracy, and endless paperwork distract you from what's really important-giving your child plenty of emotional and moral support.

Become your own expert. Do your own research and keep abreast of new developments in learning disability programs, therapies, and educational techniques. You may be tempted to look to others-teachers, therapists, doctors-for solutions, especially at first. But you're the foremost expert on your child, so take charge when it comes to finding the tools they need in order to learn.

Be an advocate for your child. You may have to speak up time and time again to get special help for your child. Embrace your role as a proactive parent and work on your communication skills. It may be frustrating at times, but by remaining calm and reasonable, yet firm, you can make a huge difference for your child.

Remember that your influence outweighs all others. Your child will follow your lead. If you approach learning challenges with optimism, hard work, and a sense of humor, your child is likely to embrace your perspective-or at least see the challenges as a speed bump, rather than a roadblock. Focus your energy on learning what works for your child and implementing it the best you can.

Focus on strengths, not just weaknesses

Your child is not defined by their learning disability. A learning disability represents one area of weakness, but there are many more areas of strengths. Focus on your child's gifts and talents. Your child's life-and schedule-shouldn't revolve around the learning disability. Nurture the activities where they excel, and make plenty of time for them.

Recognizing a learning disorder

By understanding the different types of learning disorders and their signs, you can pinpoint the specific challenges your child faces and find a treatment program that works.
[Read: Learning Disabilities and Disorders]

Helping children with learning disabilities tip 1: Take charge of your child's education

In this age of endless budget cuts and inadequately funded schools, your role in your child's education is more important than ever. Don't sit back and let someone else be responsible for providing your child with the tools they need to learn. You can and should take an active role in your child's education.

If there is demonstrated educational need, the school is required by law to develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that delivers some educational benefit, but not necessarily one that maximizes student achievement. Parents who want the best for their kids may find this standard frustrating. Understanding special education laws and your school's guidelines for services will help you get the best support for your child at school. Your child may be eligible for many kinds of accommodations and support services, but the school might not provide services unless you ask for them.

Tips for communicating with your child's school

Being a vocal advocate for your child can be challenging. You'll need superior communication and negotiation skills, and the confidence to defend your child's right to a proper education.

Clarify your goals. Before meetings, write down what you want to accomplish. Decide what is most important, and what you are willing to negotiate.

Be a good listener. Allow school officials to explain their opinions. If you don't understand what someone is saying, ask for clarification. "What I hear you saying is..." can help ensure that both parties understand.
[Read: Effective Communication]
Offer new solutions. You have the advantage of not being a "part of the system," and may have new ideas. Do your research and find examples of what other schools have done.

Keep the focus. The school system is dealing with a large number of children; you are only concerned with your child. Help the meeting stay focused on your child. Mention your child's name frequently, don't drift into generalizations, and resist the urge to fight larger battles.

Stay calm, collected and positive. Go into the meeting assuming that everyone wants to help. If you say something you regret, simply apologize and try to get back on track.

Don't give up easily. If you're not satisfied with the school's response, try again.

Recognize the limitations of the school system

Parents sometimes make the mistake of investing all of their time and energy into the school as the primary solution for their child's learning disability. It is better to recognize that the school situation for your child will probably never be perfect. Too many regulations and limited funding mean that the services and accommodations your child receives may not be exactly what you envision for them, and this will probably cause you frustration, anger and stress.

Try to recognize that the school will be only one part of the solution for your child and leave some of the stress behind. Your attitude (of support, encouragement and optimism) will have the most lasting impact on your child.

Tip 2: Identify how your child learns best

Everyone-learning disability or not-has their own unique learning style. Some people learn best by seeing or reading, others by listening, and still others by doing. You can help a child with a learning disability by identifying their primary learning style.

Is your child a visual learner, an auditory learner, or a kinesthetic learner? Once you've figured out how they learn best, you can take steps to make sure that type of learning is reinforced in the classroom and during home study. The following lists will help you determine what type of learner your child is:

Is your child a visual learner?

Visual learners:

Is your child an auditory learner?

Auditory learners:

Is your child a kinesthetic learner?

Kinesthetic learners:

Studying Tips for Different Types of Learners

For visual learners:

Use books, videos, computers, visual aids, and flashcards.

Make detailed, color-coded or high-lighted notes.

Make outlines, diagrams, and lists.

Use drawings and illustrations (preferably in color).

Take detailed notes in class.

For auditory learners:

Read notes or study materials out loud.

Use word associations and verbal repetition to memorize.

Study with other students. Talk things through.

Listen to books on tape or other audio recordings.

Use a tape recorder to listen to lectures again later.

For kinesthetic learners:

Get hands on. Do experiments and take field trips.

Use activity-based study tools, like role-playing or model building.

Study in small groups and take frequent breaks.

Use memory games and flash cards.

Study with music playing in the background.

Tip 3: Think life success, rather than school success

Success means different things to different people, but your hopes and dreams for your child probably extend beyond good report cards. Maybe you hope that your child's future includes a fulfilling job and satisfying relationships, for example, or a happy family and a sense of contentment. The point is that success in life -rather than just school success-depends, not on academics, but on things like a healthy sense of self, the willingness to ask for and accept help, the determination to keep trying in spite of challenges, the ability to form healthy relationships with others, and other qualities that aren't as easy to quantify as grades and exam scores.

Six skills for success in life with a learning disability

A 20-year study that followed children with learning disabilities into adulthood identified the following six "life success" attributes. By focusing on these broad skills, you can help give your child a huge leg up in life.

1: Self-awareness and self-confidence

For children with learning disabilities, self-awareness (knowledge about strengths, weaknesses, and special talents) and self-confidence are very important. Struggles in the classroom can cause children to doubt their abilities and question their strengths.

2: Being proactive

A proactive person is able to make decisions and take action to resolve problems or achieve goals. For people with learning disabilities, being proactive also involves self-advocacy (for example, asking for a seat at the front of the classroom) and the willingness to take responsibility for choices.

3: Perseverance

Perseverance is the drive to keep going despite challenges and failures, and the flexibility to change plans if things aren't working. Children (or adults) with learning disabilities may need to work harder and longer because of their disability.

Talk with your child about times when they persevered-why did they keep going? Share stories about when you have faced challenges and not given up.

Discuss what it means to keep going even when things aren't easy. Talk about the rewards of hard work, as well as the opportunities missed by giving up.

When your child has worked hard, but failed to achieve their goal, discuss different possibilities for moving forward.

4: The ability to set goals

The ability to set realistic and attainable goals is a vital skill for life success. It also involves the flexibility to adapt and adjust goals according to changing circumstances, limitations, or challenges.

Help your child identify a few short- or long-term goals and write down steps and a timeline to achieve the goals. Check in periodically to talk about progress and make adjustments as needed.

Talk about your own short- and long-term goals with your child, as well as what you do when you encounter obstacles.

Celebrate with your child when they achieve a goal. If certain goals are proving too hard to achieve, talk about why and how plans or goals might be adjusted to make them possible.

5: Knowing how to ask for help

Strong support systems are key for people with learning disabilities. Successful people are able to ask for help when they need it and reach out to others for support.

Help your child nurture and develop good relationships. Model what it means to be a good friend and relative so your child knows what it means to help and support others.

Demonstrate to your child how to ask for help in family situations.

Share examples of people needing help, how they got it, and why it was good to ask for help. Present your child with role-play scenarios that might require help.

6: The ability to handle stress

If children with learning disabilities learn how to regulate stress and calm themselves, they will be much better equipped to overcome challenges.

Recognizing stress in your child

It's important to be aware of the different ways in which stress can manifest. Your child may behave very differently than you do when they are under stress. Some signs of stress are more obvious: agitation, trouble sleeping, and worries that won't shut off. But some people-children included-shut down, space out, and withdraw when stressed. It's easy to overlook these signs, so be on the lookout for any behavior that's out of the ordinary.

Tip 4: Emphasize healthy lifestyle habits

It may seem like common sense that learning involves the body as well as the brain, but your child's eating, sleep, and exercise habits may be even more important than you think. If children with learning disabilities are eating right and getting enough sleep and exercise, they will be better able to focus, concentrate, and work hard.

Exercise - Exercise isn't just good for the body, it's good for the mind. Regular physical activity makes a huge difference in mood, energy, and mental clarity. Encourage your child to get outside, move, and play. Rather than tiring out your child and taking away from schoolwork, regular exercise will actually help them stay alert and attentive throughout the day. Exercise is also a great antidote to stress and frustration.

Sleep - Learning disability or not, your child is going to have trouble learning if they are not well rested. Kids need more sleep than adults do. On average, preschoolers need from 11-13 hours per night, middle school children need about 10-11 hours, and teens and preteens need from 8½-10 hours. You can help make sure your child is getting the sleep they need by enforcing a set bedtime. The type of light emitted by electronic screens (computers, televisions, phone, and tablets) is activating to the brain. So you can also help by powering off all electronics at least an hour or two before lights out.
[Read: Childhood Insomnia and Sleep Problems]
Diet - A healthy, nutrient rich diet will aid your child's growth and development. A diet full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein will help boost mental focus. Be sure your child starts the day with a good breakfast and doesn't go more than four hours between meals or snacks. This will help keep their energy levels stable.

Encouraging healthy emotional habits

In addition to healthy physical habits, you can also encourage children to have healthy emotional habits. Like you, they may be frustrated by the challenges presented by their learning disability. Try to give them outlets for expressing their anger, frustration, or feelings of discouragement. Listen when they want to talk and create an environment open to expression. Doing so will help them connect with their feelings and, eventually, learn how to calm themselves and regulate their emotions.

Tip 5: Take care of yourself, too

Sometimes the hardest part of parenting is remembering to take care of you. It's easy to get caught up in what your child needs, while forgetting your own needs. But if you don't look after yourself, you run the risk of burning out. It's important to tend to your physical and emotional needs so that you're in a healthy space for your child. You won't be able to help your child if you're stressed out, exhausted, and emotionally depleted. When you're calm and focused, on the other hand, you're better able to connect with your child and help them be calm and focused too.

Your spouse, friends, and family members can be helpful teammates if you can find a way to include them and learn to ask for help when you need it.

Tips for taking care of yourself

Keep the lines of communication open with your spouse, family, and friends. Ask for help when you need it.

Take care of yourself by eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.

Join a learning disorder support group. The encouragement and advice you'll get from other parents can be invaluable.

Enlist teachers, therapists, and tutors whenever possible to share some responsibility for day-to-day academic responsibilities.

Learn how to manage stress in your own life. Make daily time for yourself to relax and decompress.

Communicate with family and friends about your child's learning disability

Some parents keep their child's learning disability a secret, which can, even with the best intentions, look like shame or guilt. Without knowing, extended family and friends may not understand the disability or think that your child's behavior is stemming from laziness or hyperactivity. Once they are aware of what's going on, they can support your child's progress.

Within the family, siblings may feel that their brother or sister with a learning disability is getting more attention, less discipline and preferential treatment. Even if your other children understand that the learning disability creates special challenges, they can easily feel jealous or neglected. Parents can help curb these feelings by reassuring all of their children that they are loved, providing homework help, and by including family members in any special routines for the child with a learning disability.

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Helping Children with Learning Disabilities - HelpGuide.org

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Practical tips for making things easier both at home and school for a child with a learning disorder.

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The low assistive technology that would help with dysgraphia are pencil grips because it helps them hold the pencil correctly. Another one is wide-ruled notebooks because it has bigger line space because they are unable to write in smaller spaces or struggle.  For mid-assistive technology, a speech-to-text would help because instead of writing they would be able to speak into a computer or tablet to help get work done quicker and easier for them. Another one is a handheld word processor/digital typewriter it is a portable device that can be plugged into computers so you can move around different places and work on writing on. This helps by typing instead of writing. For technology a digital scanning application that lets you scan material so you don't have to write it all. This helps students if they have to take notes they can just scan someone else's so they still get the same material. Another technology device would be a computer or tablet because they would be able to speak into it instead of typing or writing.

https://veroniiiica.com/assistive-technology-for-dysgraphia/

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When dysgraphia is suspected, a professional should review the student's school records and handwriting samples. During assessment, the teacher should observe the child's pencil grip, posture and paper position when writing. The teacher should also observe the student's handwriting achievement in regards to the alphabet, copying task, composition, spelling, and keyboarding. If the student struggles with any of these tasks, they should be assessed for cognitive process related to handwriting. These cognitive processes include finger succession task, orthographic coding, rapid naming, and phonological awareness. If the child has difficulty with these cognitive processes then they should be considered for a diagnosis of dysgraphia.

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It is very important that students with this disability remain in contact with various disability services in place at their school or workplace and understand what they have to offer. They must be informed of these services in order to ensure they are being given the most assistance possible. Regarding post-secondary settings, having knowledge of these services allows students to be self-advocates. Students can also work to learn more about their disability to allow them to be better advocates. Having a good understanding of what exactly they need will allow them to have more confidence when in communication with disability services.

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What is self-advocacy?

Self-advocacy is the act of representing yourself and your interests by speaking up for yourself. It means explaining your learning disability to others, and telling them how you use your strengths and accommodations to succeed.
To be an effective self-advocate, you must:

Know and act for yourself by first understanding your disability, strengths, and needs.

Know what is best for you and tell your school's disability services office what you need to accommodate your learning disability.

Know how to get what you need. You can first role-play giving a description of your needs with someone you feel comfortable with before you speak with others.

How does self-advocacy help you?

You can get what you need to succeed in a postsecondary school by being respectively assertive.

You can make your own choices by knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

You can learn to say "no" without feeling guilty.

You can express disagreement respectfully, still listening to the other person, and speaking when it is your turn.

Understand Your Disability

You must understand your disability before you can explain it to someone else. Here are some ideas for learning about your disability:

Ask someone who understands diagnostic documentation to explain what the documentation says about your strengths and weaknesses.

Be aware of any co-existing conditions - AD/HD, Anxiety Disorder, etc.

Search online for information about your disability.

Keep a folder or binder with all disability-related documentation and materials.

Meeting with Disability Services

You should meet with your school's disability services office before school begins to talk about what accommodations you need.

Know that just because you received an accommodation in K-12 does not mean you will automatically receive these accommodations at postsecondary school.

However, you should discuss why you need these accommodations. Be sure you know what worked and did not work for you in the past.

Take your binder with all of your disability related information, including copies of your school IEPs if you have any, as well as the diagnostic documentation from your most current learning disabilities evaluation.

Remember throughout the process, you know your strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else. Don't rely on parents or others to make decisions about what you need for support for your learning disability in postsecondary school.

Know that as an adult with a disability, you are legally entitled to accommodations in postsecondary. Be familiar with the laws that protect you.

Take notes during the meeting, either written or with an audio recorder. Add your notes to your disability binder.

Following the Meeting with Disability Services

After your requested accommodations have been approved by Disability Services, you should speak with your professors about your accommodations. You may want to rehearse with a friend or specialist first.

To speak effectively with your professors:

Set up an appointment with each professor at least one week before you need any accommodations for instruction or testing. You may be able to Email or text your professors to set up an appointment. If not, call their office.

Go see your professor during his or her office hours. Don't just try to catch him or her after or during class. Respect the professor's busy schedule.

Take your disability binder in case the professor wants to see any documentation, including any documentation from Student Services that shows you have been approved for accommodations.

Be assertive, but not aggressive.

Additional Resources

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How College Students with LD Can Self-Advocate

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Self-advocacy is the act of representing yourself and your interests by speaking up for yourself. It means explaining your learning disability to others, and telling them how you use your strengths and accommodations to succeed. To be an effective self-advocate, you must: Know and act for yourself by first understanding your disability, strengths, and needs.

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This is a good resource because it discusses neurological conditions associated with dysgraphia. It also talks about dyslexic dysgraphia.

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This is a good resource because it discusses dysgraphia vs dyslexia and dyscalculia. It also discusses some neurological disorders that are comorbid with dysgraphia.

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Child Psychology Resources by Dr. Tali Shenfield

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Do you have difficulty writing legibly or remembering how to spell common words, no matter how much you practice? You aren't alone: Frequently struggling to form letters by hand - or express your ideas in writing - may mean you're one of the 4% of adults who have dysgraphia. This little-known learning disability can affect multiple aspects of written coherence, even in individuals with above-average intelligence. Fortunately, supportive technology and treatments can help people with this condition overcome writing-related challenges and reach their full potential in the workplace.

What is Dysgraphia? Causes and Common Symptoms.

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that primarily causes distorted writing, though it can also cause problems with other fine motor skills. As a neurological condition, dysgraphia is usually present from birth and typically lasts into adulthood. While the condition is mostly genetic, in adults, dysgraphia - and, in extreme cases, agraphia - may develop after a brain injury, especially if the cerebellum is affected. This type of dysgraphia is called motor dysgraphia. Though anyone can develop dysgraphia, researchers believe this condition affects slightly more men than women.

People with dysgraphia are typically adept readers and speakers, but they have difficulty with one or more transcription skills. Because many people with dysgraphia demonstrate normal reading comprehension and verbal fluency, dysgraphia remains one of the most under-diagnosed learning disabilities in children. Teachers often attribute poor handwriting to sloppiness when, in reality, completing written assignments is laborious and frustrating for dysgraphic students. Many dysgraphic adults must therefore learn to recognize their symptoms and seek treatment independently.

Speaking of signs and symptoms of dysgraphia, depending on the type of dysgraphia you have, you may experience any of the following challenges:

Difficulty writing by hand; e.g., being unable to form letters properly, stay within lines or margins, or maintain proper spacing or capitalization. (Note that some individuals with dysgraphia can write correctly, but their writing process is unusually slow and labored.)

Poor spelling and/or grammar (often accompanied by difficulty with visualizing words).

Problems with omitting words from sentences, reversing word order, and finding the right words to convey your ideas. You may repeat the same concepts when writing or find it difficult to summarize your points succinctly.

Difficulty with fine motor tasks, such as tying shoelaces, cutting food, drawing or painting, or handling small objects.

A desire to avoid writing whenever possible (many people with dysgraphia choose to type out even brief lists, for instance).

An awkward grip when holding a pen or pencil (e.g. extra tight squeeze, wrapping the whole fist around, wrong wrist position, etc.).

Having a large gap between your writing ability and your ability to express concepts through speech.

Dysgraphia vs. Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

We are often asked whether dysgraphia is a form of dyslexia. Generally, the answer is "no". Yet, the symptoms of dysgraphia, dyslexia, and dyscalculia sometimes overlap, making it hard to differentiate between these conditions. Dysgraphic and dyslexic individuals often have similar issues with spelling, for example, and both dysgraphic and dyscalculic people typically struggle to read charts and maps. Complicating matters further, a person can have both dysgraphia and dyslexia - it's a special type of dysgraphia called dyslexic dysgraphia. There are, however, several key traits that make these learning disabilities distinct from one another.

Dyslexia primarily affects a person's ability to read and speak. Some dyslexic individuals also have poor handwriting, but handwriting issues alone don't signify dyslexia. For a diagnosis of dyslexia to be made, an individual must have pronounced difficulty sounding out words, reading (silently and aloud), memorizing "sight words," and organizing his or her thoughts when speaking. Dyslexic children and adults experience these challenges because their brains don't process graphic symbols or certain sounds properly. Dysgraphia, by contrast, arises from fine motor skill deficits and problems with orthographic coding (the ability to memorize written words).

Unlike dyslexia and dysgraphia, dyscalculia typically affects math skills more than language skills. In addition to struggling with concepts like counting, arithmetic, and multiplication, people with dyscalculia tend to have trouble judging distances and quantities at a glance. They may also have problems estimating time, associating numbers with amounts (e.g., being unable to link the number 2 with two apples), and recognizing directions, like right and left. Researchers aren't sure what causes dyscalculia, though brain imaging tests suggest that individuals with this condition have problems with both numeric processing and numeric recall.

How is Dysgraphia Diagnosed?

Unlike most other learning disabilities, dysgraphia is usually diagnosed at a pre-school or early school age. However, with technology replacing the need for handwriting, many people now are diagnosed as late as high school and there are even some adults with dysgraphia who are unaware that they have this condition. The diagnosis is usually established based on the results of a psychoeducational assessment (assessment for learning disability) performed by a clinical or school psychologist. During the assessment process, you may have to complete several tests, such as WISC-5 (IQ test), a TOWL-4 (test of written language), and a test of your fine motor skills. If your test results indicate dysgraphia, your psychologist will help you develop a treatment plan. You will also be able to receive support and special accommodations at school and university.

Dysgraphia may be difficult to diagnose when it cooccurs with other neurological disorders. Comorbid conditions with dysgraphia include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), selective language impairment (SLI), or autism spectrum disorder.

Strategies for Treatment of Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia cannot be cured but can be treated. There are many effective ways to manage the symptoms of this condition and reduce its impact on your life. The coping strategies below are helpful for many individuals with dysgraphia:

Occupational therapy to improve fine motor skills, muscle memory, and visual-spatial skills.

Physical exercises or special hobbies (e.g. pottery) to increase the strength of hand muscles

Speech or language therapy to address problems with grammar, word usage, and sentence composition.

Using graphic organizers to structure ideas.

Breaking written work down into small, manageable steps.

Creating an "editing checklist" to refer to when proofreading (i.e., check spelling, grammar, syntax, and coherence in separate stages).

Utilizing supportive technology. Many people with dysgraphia can improve their writing ability by working on their keyboarding skills and using spell checkers, speech-to-text tools, etc.

Dysgraphia doesn't have to limit your options for a successful, fulfilling career. With the assistance of therapy and technology, people with this condition can perform optimally in a wide variety of roles. Fortunately, the advance of technology and diminished reliance on hand-writing made it possible for people with dysgraphia to pursue any career path they choose. However, it should be kept in mind that some individuals in this group have difficulty putting their thoughts on paper even in a typed format. If this is the case, it would be advisable to stay away from jobs that involve a great deal of written communication (e.g., teaching, law, counselling). With that being said, there are a number of professions that tend to be especially suitable for dysgraphic individuals:

Art and design. Many jobs in the arts don't require advanced fine motor skills, which makes them a great option for creatives with dysgraphia. Photography, graphic design, interior design, and fashion design are all excellent paths for people with strong visual imaginations. Those who favor the performing arts might consider a career in music, dance, film making, TV, or theatre.

Sales and marketing. People with dysgraphia can leverage their verbal fluency to connect with people and explain the value of products and services. As such, they often make adept salespeople, retail managers, or event coordinators.

Working outdoors. Fit, active individuals may find their ideal career working outdoors in areas such as forestry, park ranger or conservation roles, or the military.

Information technology. Software development, hardware testing, and game design professions are all viable options for dysgraphic people who enjoy working with computers.

Engineering. Civic, electronic, mechanical. chemical, environmental are all excellent occupation choices for people with strong non-verbal logic who enjoy math and science.

No matter which career path you choose, it's crucial to remember that having a well-managed learning disability is a source of strength, not a weakness. Living with the challenges posed by dysgraphia inspires the development of keen problem-solving skills, creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience. These qualities are highly valuable in virtually any workplace, so don't hesitate to follow your passion when choosing a field.

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What is Dysgraphia? The Handwriting Disorder Explained

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Do you have difficulty writing legibly or remembering how to spell common words, no matter how much you practice? You aren't alone: Frequently struggling to form letters by hand - or express your ideas in writing - may mean you're one of the 4% of adults who have dysgraphia.

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It is often difficult to diagnose dysgraphia when it occurs with other neurological disorders. Some neurological disorders comorbid with dysgraphia include ADHD, selective language impairment, and autism spectrum disorder. Dysgraphia can also be interrelated with dyslexia.

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Throughout this website they debunk myths about living with dysgraphia. But at the beginning they explain some challenges that may be present and why they are exactly challenges. The specifically talk on basic life skill challenges and social emotion challenges that one my have while having dysgraphia

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Academic: Kids with dysgraphia can fall behind in schoolwork because it takes them so much longer to write. Taking notes is a challenge. They may get discouraged and avoid writing assignments.

Basic life skills: Some children's fine motor skills are weak. They find it hard to do everyday tasks, such as buttoning shirts and making a simple list.

Social-emotional: Children with dysgraphia may feel frustrated or anxious about their academic and life challenges. If they haven't been identified, teachers may criticize them for being 'lazy' or 'sloppy'. This may add to their stress. Their low self-esteem, frustration and communication problems can also make it hard to socialize with other children. They may also be bullied at school for falling back in class. They also show signs of hyper-activity and can be difficult to deal with.
Myth #1: Messy handwriting is a sure sign of dysgraphia.
Fact: Although many people with dysgraphia have poor, hard-to-read handwriting, not all do. In fact, some can write neatly-even though it might take them a lot of time and effort. There are other signs of dysgraphia besides sloppy handwriting. They include slow, labored writing and inappropriately sized and spaced letters.
Myth #2: Kids with dysgraphia have below-average intelligence.
Fact: It's a myth that people with learning and attention issues have poor intelligence, and children with dysgraphia are no exception. In fact, kids with dysgraphia usually have average or above-average intelligence. They just struggle with writing down on paper what they know.
Myth #3: Students with dysgraphia are just being lazy.
Fact: Dysgraphia can make the act of writing a slow and taxing process. Some kids may avoid writing assignments in school simply because writing is so frustrating for them. This might look like laziness, but there are underlying factors you might not see. Watching peers who don't struggle with writing doesn't help either. It can make kids with dysgraphia feel discouraged.
Myth #4: Dysgraphia is the same thing as dyslexia.
Fact: It's true that both dysgraphia and dyslexia can affect the kids' ability to spell. The two, however, are distinct conditions. Dyslexia makes it more difficult for a child to learn to read. On its own, dysgraphia doesn't affect a child's ability to read.
Myth #5: Most kids outgrow dysgraphia, so it's not necessary to spend time helping them.
Fact: Dysgraphia is a lifelong condition-there's no cure to make it go away. That doesn't mean, though, that people with dysgraphia can't succeed at writing and other language-based activities. There are a lot of ways to get help for dysgraphia, including apps and accommodations.

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Dysgraphia affects handwriting and fine motor skills. It interferes with spelling, word spacing, and the general ability to put thoughts on paper. It makes the process of writing laboriously slow, with a product that is often impossible to read.

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In this link you can explore all the reason why dysgraphia can be a challenge  in ones everyday life. Knowing that this disability affects peoples writing more than the way they speak can -sometime put one behind since writing is used almost on a day to day basis. These challenges should not be the be the reason that a one gives up, the website also speaks on ways to accommodate and/or work on ones dysgraphia.

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What is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty turning their thoughts into written language for their age and ability to think, despite exposure to adequate instruction and education. Dysgraphia can present with many different symptoms at different ages. It's considered a learning difference.

Writing is a complex process that involves many skills and brain functions, including:

Fine motor skills.

Spatial perception (ability to perceive the space around you).

Working memory (ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind).

Orthographic coding (ability to form, store and recall letters, numbers and symbols).

Language processing.

Conceptualization.

Organization.

Because of this, dysgraphia is somewhat of a catch-all term to diagnose issues with writing and can be difficult to diagnose.

Dysgraphia generally appears when children are first learning to write. This is called developmental dysgraphia. People can also develop dysgraphia suddenly after some type of head or brain trauma. This is called acquired dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is considered a "specific learning disorder" - more specifically, a "specific learning disorder in written expression."

Is dysgraphia a form of dyslexia?

Dyslexia and dysgraphia are two distinct neurological conditions, though they're easy to confuse because they share symptoms and often occur together.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes it harder for people to learn to read. If you have dyslexia, you may read more slowly or have trouble recognizing words. Often, people with dyslexia read at a lower level than expected. People with dyslexia may struggle to break words into sounds or relate letters to sounds when reading.

Dysgraphia involves difficulty with the act of writing. Difficulties can range from issues with physically writing words to issues with organizing and expressing thoughts in written form.

Is dysgraphia a form of autism?

Dysgraphia isn't a form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Though dysgraphia commonly occurs in people with autism, you can have dysgraphia without having autism.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by:

Difficulties in social communication differences.

Deficits in social interactions.

Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

Sensory problems.

Who does dysgraphia affect?

Dysgraphia can affect children and adults. As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, dysgraphia is more common in children assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in children assigned female at birth (AFAB).

You're more likely to have dysgraphia if other family members also have it, and dysgraphia is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

How common is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is common. Researchers estimate that 5% to 20% of people have dysgraphia. The estimated range is large because dysgraphia often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

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Dysgraphia: What It Is, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

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Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty with writing skills for their age despite exposure to adequate instruction.

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This website gives more information on what the prevalence rates of dysgraphia are. It also explains why the gap in the estimated amount is so big.

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What is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty turning their thoughts into written language for their age and ability to think, despite exposure to adequate instruction and education. Dysgraphia can present with many different symptoms at different ages. It's considered a learning difference.

Writing is a complex process that involves many skills and brain functions, including:

Fine motor skills.

Spatial perception (ability to perceive the space around you).

Working memory (ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind).

Orthographic coding (ability to form, store and recall letters, numbers and symbols).

Language processing.

Conceptualization.

Organization.

Because of this, dysgraphia is somewhat of a catch-all term to diagnose issues with writing and can be difficult to diagnose.

Dysgraphia generally appears when children are first learning to write. This is called developmental dysgraphia. People can also develop dysgraphia suddenly after some type of head or brain trauma. This is called acquired dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is considered a "specific learning disorder" - more specifically, a "specific learning disorder in written expression."

Is dysgraphia a form of dyslexia?

Dyslexia and dysgraphia are two distinct neurological conditions, though they're easy to confuse because they share symptoms and often occur together.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes it harder for people to learn to read. If you have dyslexia, you may read more slowly or have trouble recognizing words. Often, people with dyslexia read at a lower level than expected. People with dyslexia may struggle to break words into sounds or relate letters to sounds when reading.

Dysgraphia involves difficulty with the act of writing. Difficulties can range from issues with physically writing words to issues with organizing and expressing thoughts in written form.

Is dysgraphia a form of autism?

Dysgraphia isn't a form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Though dysgraphia commonly occurs in people with autism, you can have dysgraphia without having autism.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by:

Difficulties in social communication differences.

Deficits in social interactions.

Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

Sensory problems.

Who does dysgraphia affect?

Dysgraphia can affect children and adults. As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, dysgraphia is more common in children assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in children assigned female at birth (AFAB).

You're more likely to have dysgraphia if other family members also have it, and dysgraphia is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

How common is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is common. Researchers estimate that 5% to 20% of people have dysgraphia. The estimated range is large because dysgraphia often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

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Dysgraphia: What It Is, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

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Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty with writing skills for their age despite exposure to adequate instruction.

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Dysgraphia is a very common, there is an estimate that 5% to 20% of people are diagnosed with this learning disability. The estimated range is so large due to the fact that most of people with who have dysgraphia goes undiagnosed.

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Do/Can any other disabilities exist in addition to this primary diagnosis?

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This resource discusses some characteristics of dysgraphia. It also addresses other "consequences" of dysgraphia and how it affects other aspects of language and not just handwriting.

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Difficulty with handwriting frequently occurs in children with dyslexia. When Texas passed dyslexia legislation, the co-existence of poor handwriting with dyslexia was one reason why dysgraphia was called a related disorder. Subsequently, dyslexia and dysgraphia have been found to have diverse co-morbidities, including phonological awareness (Döhla and Heim, 2016). However, dyslexia and dysgraphia are now recognized to be distinct disorders that can exist concurrently or separately. They have different brain mechanisms and identifiable characteristics.

Dysgraphia is related to dyslexia as both are language-based disorders. In dyslexia, the impairment is with word-level skills (decoding, word identification, spelling). Dysgraphia is a written language disorder in serial production of strokes to form a handwritten letter. This involves not only motor skills but also language skills-finding, retrieving and producing letters, which is a subword-level language skill. The impaired handwriting may interfere with spelling and/or composing, but individuals with only dysgraphia do not have difficulty with reading (Berninger, Richards, & Abbott, 2015).

A review of recent evidence indicates that dysgraphia is best defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested by illegible and/or inefficient handwriting due to difficulty with letter formation. This difficulty is the result of deficits in graphomotor function (hand movements used for writing) and/or storing and retrieving orthographic codes (letter forms) (Berninger, 2015). Secondary consequences may include problems with spelling and written expression. The difficulty is not solely due to the lack of instruction and is not associated with other developmental or neurological conditions that involve motor impairment.

The characteristics of dysgraphia include the following:

Variably shaped and poorly formed letters

Excessive erasures and cross-outs

Poor spacing between letters and words

Letter and number reversals beyond early stages of writing

Awkward, inconsistent pencil grip

Heavy pressure and hand fatigue

Slow writing and copying with legible or illegible handwriting (Andrews & Lombardino, 2014)

Additional consequences of dysgraphia may also include:

Difficulty with unedited written spelling

Low volume of written output as well as problems with other aspects of written expression

Dysgraphia can be due to:

Impaired feedback the brain is receiving from the fingers

Weaknesses using visual processing to coordinate hand movement and organize the use of space

Problems with motor planning and sequencing

Difficulty with storage and retrieval of letter forms (Levine, 1999)

Despite the widespread beliefs that handwriting is purely a motor skill or that only multisensory methods are needed to teach handwriting, multiple language processes are also involved in handwriting. Handwriting draws on language by hand (letter production), language by ear (listening to letter names when writing dictated letters), language by mouth (saying letter names), and language by eye (viewing the letters to be copied or reviewing for accuracy the letters that are produced from memory) (Berninger & Wolf, 2016).

Sources for Definition and Characteristics of Dysgraphia

Andrews, J. and Lombardino, L. (2014). Strategies for teaching handwriting to children with writing disabilities. ASHA SIG1 Perspectives on Language Learning Education. 21:114-126.

Berninger, V.W. (2004). Understanding the graphia in dysgraphia. In Developmental Motor Disorders: A Neuropsychological Perspective. D. Dewry and D. Tupper (Eds.), New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.

Berninger, V.W. (2015). Interdisciplinary frameworks for schools: Best practices for serving the needs of all student. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Berninger, V.W., Richards, T.L. and Abbott, R. D. (2015) Differential Diagnosis of Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and OWL LD: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence. Read Writ. 2015 Oct;28(8):1119-1153.

Berninger, V., & Wolf, B. (2016). Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, OWL LD, and Dyscalculia: Lessons from Science and Teaching (Second ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Döhla, D. and Heim, S. (2016). Developmental dyslexia and dysgraphia: What can we learn from the one about the other? Frontiers in Psychology. 6:2045.

Levine, M.D. (1999). Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service, Inc.

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Difficulty with handwriting frequently occurs in children with dyslexia. When Texas passed dyslexia legislation, the co-existence of poor handwriting with dyslexia was one reason why dysgraphia was called a related disorder. Subsequently, dyslexia and dysgraphia have been found to have diverse co-morbidities, including phonological awareness (Döhla and Heim, 2016).

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There are a lot of different characteristics that are involved with Dysgraphia. People who suffer from Dysgraphia often space their letters and words poorly and they also cannot form their letters correctly which can make their writing hard to read. Another characteristic of Dysgraphia is not having a consistent pencil grip which makes it harder to write because it may feel awkward or uncomfortable. The Special Programs article explains the potential characteristics that someone with Dysgraphia may face and also what can cause these characteristics.
Some other characteristics that are involved with Dysgraphia are the individual may lack certain motor skills which makes it very difficult for them to complete simple writing tasks. Their work also is not clear and can be hard to read due to them being unable to write clearly.
https://www.starhealth.in/blog/what-is-dysgraphia-types-characteristics-symptoms-causes-everyone-should-know
As stated in this article, individuals who suffer from dysgraphia have a hard time writing because they lack the fine motor skills that are connected to writing.

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Difficulty with handwriting frequently occurs in children with dyslexia. When Texas passed dyslexia legislation, the co-existence of poor handwriting with dyslexia was one reason why dysgraphia was called a related disorder. Subsequently, dyslexia and dysgraphia have been found to have diverse co-morbidities, including phonological awareness (Döhla and Heim, 2016). However, dyslexia and dysgraphia are now recognized to be distinct disorders that can exist concurrently or separately. They have different brain mechanisms and identifiable characteristics.

Dysgraphia is related to dyslexia as both are language-based disorders. In dyslexia, the impairment is with word-level skills (decoding, word identification, spelling). Dysgraphia is a written language disorder in serial production of strokes to form a handwritten letter. This involves not only motor skills but also language skills-finding, retrieving and producing letters, which is a subword-level language skill. The impaired handwriting may interfere with spelling and/or composing, but individuals with only dysgraphia do not have difficulty with reading (Berninger, Richards, & Abbott, 2015).

A review of recent evidence indicates that dysgraphia is best defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder manifested by illegible and/or inefficient handwriting due to difficulty with letter formation. This difficulty is the result of deficits in graphomotor function (hand movements used for writing) and/or storing and retrieving orthographic codes (letter forms) (Berninger, 2015). Secondary consequences may include problems with spelling and written expression. The difficulty is not solely due to the lack of instruction and is not associated with other developmental or neurological conditions that involve motor impairment.

The characteristics of dysgraphia include the following:

Variably shaped and poorly formed letters

Excessive erasures and cross-outs

Poor spacing between letters and words

Letter and number reversals beyond early stages of writing

Awkward, inconsistent pencil grip

Heavy pressure and hand fatigue

Slow writing and copying with legible or illegible handwriting (Andrews & Lombardino, 2014)

Additional consequences of dysgraphia may also include:

Difficulty with unedited written spelling

Low volume of written output as well as problems with other aspects of written expression

Dysgraphia can be due to:

Impaired feedback the brain is receiving from the fingers

Weaknesses using visual processing to coordinate hand movement and organize the use of space

Problems with motor planning and sequencing

Difficulty with storage and retrieval of letter forms (Levine, 1999)

Despite the widespread beliefs that handwriting is purely a motor skill or that only multisensory methods are needed to teach handwriting, multiple language processes are also involved in handwriting. Handwriting draws on language by hand (letter production), language by ear (listening to letter names when writing dictated letters), language by mouth (saying letter names), and language by eye (viewing the letters to be copied or reviewing for accuracy the letters that are produced from memory) (Berninger & Wolf, 2016).

Sources for Definition and Characteristics of Dysgraphia

Andrews, J. and Lombardino, L. (2014). Strategies for teaching handwriting to children with writing disabilities. ASHA SIG1 Perspectives on Language Learning Education. 21:114-126.

Berninger, V.W. (2004). Understanding the graphia in dysgraphia. In Developmental Motor Disorders: A Neuropsychological Perspective. D. Dewry and D. Tupper (Eds.), New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.

Berninger, V.W. (2015). Interdisciplinary frameworks for schools: Best practices for serving the needs of all student. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Berninger, V.W., Richards, T.L. and Abbott, R. D. (2015) Differential Diagnosis of Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and OWL LD: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Evidence. Read Writ. 2015 Oct;28(8):1119-1153.

Berninger, V., & Wolf, B. (2016). Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, OWL LD, and Dyscalculia: Lessons from Science and Teaching (Second ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Döhla, D. and Heim, S. (2016). Developmental dyslexia and dysgraphia: What can we learn from the one about the other? Frontiers in Psychology. 6:2045.

Levine, M.D. (1999). Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service, Inc.

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Difficulty with handwriting frequently occurs in children with dyslexia. When Texas passed dyslexia legislation, the co-existence of poor handwriting with dyslexia was one reason why dysgraphia was called a related disorder. Subsequently, dyslexia and dysgraphia have been found to have diverse co-morbidities, including phonological awareness (Döhla and Heim, 2016).

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This resource discusses some of the characteristics of dysgraphia. It also talks about how dysgraphia affects children and their schooling.

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Dysgraphia makes it difficult for a person to form letters in writing. It's a neurological disorder that can affect children or adults. People with dysgraphia may also use the wrong word for what they're trying to communicate.

The cause of dysgraphia isn't always known, though in adults it sometimes follows a traumatic event.

Once the condition is diagnosed, you can learn strategies to help overcome some of the challenges it presents in school and in life.

Illegible handwriting is a common sign of dysgraphia, but not everyone with messy penmanship has the disorder. It's also possible to have neat handwriting if you have dysgraphia, though it may take you a long time and a lot of effort to write neatly.

Some common characteristics of dysgraphia include:

incorrect spelling and capitalization

mix of cursive and print letters

inappropriate sizing and spacing of letters

difficulty copying words

slow or labored writing

difficulty visualizing words before writing them

unusual body or hand position when writing

tight hold on pen or pencil resulting in hand cramps

watching your hand while you write

saying words aloud while writing

omitting letters and words from sentences

Other effects of dysgraphia

People with dysgraphia often have trouble concentrating on other things while writing. This can make it difficult to take notes during class or a meeting because so much attention is being paid to getting each word down on paper. Other things that are said may be missed.

Students with dysgraphia may also be accused of being sloppy or lazy because their handwriting isn't neat. This can affect self-esteem and lead to anxiety, a lack of confidence, and negative attitudes toward school.

If dysgraphia appears in childhood, it's usually the result of a problem with orthographic coding. This is an aspect of working memory that allows you to permanently remember written words, and the way your hands or fingers must move to write those words.

With dysgraphia, kids or adults have a harder time planning and executing the writing of sentences, words, and even individual letters. It's not that you don't know how to read, spell, or identify letters and words. Instead, your brain has problems processing words and writing.

When dysgraphia develops in adults, the cause is usually a stroke or other brain injury. In particular, injury to the brain's left parietal lobe may lead to dysgraphia. You have a right and left parietal lobe in the upper part of your brain. Each is associated with a range of skills, such as reading and writing, as well as sensory processing, including pain, heat, and cold.

Researchers are still learning the reasons why some children have learning disabilities, such as dysgraphia. Learning disabilities often run in families or are related to prenatal development, such as being born prematurely.

Children with dysgraphia often have other learning disabilities. For example, having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may raise the risk of having dysgraphia. That's because attention is closely linked to both writing and reading abilities.

Other learning disabilities associated with dysgraphia include dyslexia (trouble reading), and oral and written language (OWL) learning disability. OWL symptoms include trouble placing words in the right order in a sentence and difficulty remembering words.

Dyslexia is a reading disorder and dysgraphia is a writing disorder, but the conditions may sometimes be confused for one another. That's because people with dyslexia may also have problems with their writing and spelling.

It's possible to have both learning disabilities, but it's important to get a proper diagnosis so you know if one or both conditions require attention.

Diagnosing dysgraphia often requires a team of experts, including a physician and a licensed psychologist or other mental health professional trained in working with people who have learning disabilities. An occupational therapist, school psychologist, or a special education teacher may also help make the diagnosis.

For children, part of the diagnostic process may include an IQ test and an assessment of their academic work. Specific school assignments may also be examined.

For adults, examples of written work or written tests administered by a doctor may be evaluated. You will be observed as you write to look for fine motor skills problems. You may be asked to copy words from one source to another to help understand if there are language-processing problems.

Occupational therapy may be helpful in improving handwriting skills. Therapeutic activities may include:

holding a pencil or pen in a new way to make writing easier

working with modeling clay

tracing letters in shaving cream on a desk

drawing lines within mazes

doing connect-the-dots puzzles

There are also several writing programs that can help children and adults form letters and sentences neatly on paper.

If other learning disabilities or health issues are present, treatment options will need to address those conditions as well. Medications may be needed to treat ADHD, for example.

Living with dysgraphia

For some people, occupational therapy and motor skills training can help improve their writing ability. For others, it remains a lifelong challenge.

If you have a son or daughter with dysgraphia, it's important to work with your child's school and teachers on accommodations that are appropriate for this type of learning disability. Some classroom strategies that may help include:

a designated note taker in the classroom

use of a computer for notes and other assignments

oral exams and assignments, instead of written ones

extra time on tests and assignments

lesson or lecture notes provided by the teacher as printouts, recordings, or in digital form

pencils or other writing implements with special grips to make writing easier

use of wide-ruled or graph paper

And if you feel that the treatment you or children receive for dysgraphia isn't sufficient, don't give up. Look for other therapists or resources in your community that may help. You may need to be an aggressive advocate for your child, but keep in mind that there are laws and school policies designed to serve students with all types of learning challenges.

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Dysgraphia is a learning disability that can make it difficult for you or your child to write. It's different from dyslexia, though the two conditions can sometimes occur together. We explain symptoms, treatment options, and tips for helping you or your child to manage this condition.

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Characteristics of Dysgraphia- Jaiden Gottshall

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Characteristics of Dysgraphia- Jaiden Gottshall

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Some common characteristics of dysgraphia include incorrect spelling and capitalization and inappropriate sizing and spacing of letters.  Students with dysgraphia also experience slow/labored writing and unusual body or hand position when writing. They may also have difficulty visualizing words before writing them and say words aloud when writing.  Some other characteristics include excessive eraser marks and cross-outs and letter and number reversals that go beyond the early stages of writing.

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Some struggles for behaviors for a child who has dysgraphia may lead to them falling behind and not wanting to do any work making them irritable and stressed. It says in the article "Parents and teachers expect them to write at the same level as they speak." So this makes the kids feel like they aren't smart and less motivated about doing any written assignments because others think they should be good at both.

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Children with dysgraphia struggle to write, often causing them to experience emotional stress and anxiety. Because they have good verbal skills, parents and teachers expect them to write at the same level as they speak; when they don't, they may be mistakenly thought of as lacking motivation or careless.

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Academic things they struggle with are letter formation and being able to space letters correctly. When writing they may write words backward or may not be able to write in a straight line. They also struggle to write at a normal speed because of not remember certain letters.

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What is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty turning their thoughts into written language for their age and ability to think, despite exposure to adequate instruction and education. Dysgraphia can present with many different symptoms at different ages. It's considered a learning difference.

Writing is a complex process that involves many skills and brain functions, including:

Fine motor skills.

Spatial perception (ability to perceive the space around you).

Working memory (ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind).

Orthographic coding (ability to form, store and recall letters, numbers and symbols).

Language processing.

Conceptualization.

Organization.

Because of this, dysgraphia is somewhat of a catch-all term to diagnose issues with writing and can be difficult to diagnose.

Dysgraphia generally appears when children are first learning to write. This is called developmental dysgraphia. People can also develop dysgraphia suddenly after some type of head or brain trauma. This is called acquired dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is considered a "specific learning disorder" - more specifically, a "specific learning disorder in written expression."

Is dysgraphia a form of dyslexia?

Dyslexia and dysgraphia are two distinct neurological conditions, though they're easy to confuse because they share symptoms and often occur together.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes it harder for people to learn to read. If you have dyslexia, you may read more slowly or have trouble recognizing words. Often, people with dyslexia read at a lower level than expected. People with dyslexia may struggle to break words into sounds or relate letters to sounds when reading.

Dysgraphia involves difficulty with the act of writing. Difficulties can range from issues with physically writing words to issues with organizing and expressing thoughts in written form.

Is dysgraphia a form of autism?

Dysgraphia isn't a form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Though dysgraphia commonly occurs in people with autism, you can have dysgraphia without having autism.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by:

Difficulties in social communication differences.

Deficits in social interactions.

Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

Sensory problems.

Who does dysgraphia affect?

Dysgraphia can affect children and adults. As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, dysgraphia is more common in children assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in children assigned female at birth (AFAB).

You're more likely to have dysgraphia if other family members also have it, and dysgraphia is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

How common is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is common. Researchers estimate that 5% to 20% of people have dysgraphia. The estimated range is large because dysgraphia often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

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Dysgraphia: What It Is, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

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Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty with writing skills for their age despite exposure to adequate instruction.

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What are the academic, behavioral, or functional areas of struggle based on this disability?

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- Difficulty with letter sizing, Falling behind in school wrk because its harder to take note and write things out
-Becoming frustrated because they may not be working as fast as they want and their work may not be legible
- Fine motor coordination may be off
-Difficulties holding a writing tool and being able to control it while taking not in a meeting
- omitting words from sentences
-Getting overwhelmed Because you may not be on the same level as someone else when it comes to writing.

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Adults with dysgraphia will experience messier hand writing they’ll also appear in the purposeful avoidance of writing and in weak fine motor skills.

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Many adults have handwriting that would make an elementary school teacher cringe - but if your handwriting is so messy that even you can't read it, it could be a sign of dysgraphia.

What is dysgraphia? In short, it's a learning disability that affects fine motor skills like writing, buttoning a shirt, or tying a shoelace - as well as the mental processes associated with writing, like picking a topic, organizing ideas, and making a coherent point. Since most children with dysgraphia are otherwise bright (and are often skilled readers and speakers), writing-related challenges early in life are frequently missed or chalked up to sloppiness. This means that a child with dysgraphia could easily reach adulthood without receiving a diagnosis - missing out on life-changing treatment and suffering harsh blows to her self-esteem.

Since so many adults with dysgraphia remain undiagnosed, it's difficult to estimate just how many are living with the condition. In children, the rate is often estimated between 4 and 20 percent - and since dysgraphia can't be outgrown, just as many adults are living with this learning disability. Dysgraphia affects men more often than women, and can go hand-in-hand with other learning disabilities or a related condition like ADHD.
[Take This Dysgraphia Symptom Test for Adults]
Dysgraphia Symptoms at Home

If writing has been a lifelong challenge, you've likely devised strategies to compensate or to avoid writing altogether. With that in mind, symptoms of dysgraphia in adults will manifest as more than just messy handwriting - they'll also appear in the purposeful avoidance of writing and in weak fine motor skills. Symptoms of dysgraphia at home might look like:

Highly illegible handwriting, often to the point that even you can't read what you wrote

Struggles with cutting food, doing puzzles, or manipulating small objects by hand

Uses a pen grip that is "strange" or "awkward"

Slow to understand the rules of games or follow sequential directions

Trouble reading maps

Difficulty drawing, tracing, or painting

Avoids writing whenever possible; prefers a digital grocery list to a written one, for instance

Makes spelling errors in simple notes

May also dislike texting

Dysgraphia Symptoms at Work

As more and more jobs depend on computers, writing may not factor in to your day-to-day life at work. Even if that's true for you, dysgraphia can still cause challenges at work by making other fine motor tasks - like handling small objects - difficult. Symptoms of dysgraphia at work might include:

When using spell-check on a computer, often has difficulty picking out the correct word from a list of similar words

Trouble filling in routine forms by hand, particularly if they require fitting words into set boxes

Illegible handwriting; can't read own meeting notes or coworkers complain that memos are indecipherable

Mixes lowercase and uppercase letters, or print and cursive letters, seemingly randomly

Often leaves out individual letters or the ends of words, particularly when writing quickly

In some cases, may have trouble with typing as well

Experiences hand cramps or pain when writing

Has trouble telling when words are misspelled

Often uses grammatically incorrect sentences in emails or reports

May be overly reliant on simple sentence structures

Prefers to give or get directions orally, instead of in writing

Has trouble "getting to the point" in written communication; emails may be rambling, or reports may repeat the same ideas several times

Able to explain self clearly when speaking, but not when writing

Dysgraphia is a brain-based disorder, and it can be improved with accommodations and, in some cases, occupational therapy. If you think you might be showing signs of dysgraphia, talk to your primary care doctor. He or she should be able to refer you to a neuropsychologist or another learning specialist who can diagnose you with dysgraphia and work with you on an effective treatment plan.

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What Does Dysgraphia Look Like in Adults?

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If dysgraphia isn't diagnosed in childhood, it often leads to further challenges or self-esteem problems for adults who live with the condition and have trouble writing. Learn how to spot dysgraphia in adults.

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“Children with dysgraphia struggle to write, often causing them to experience emotional stress and anxiety. Because they have good verbal skills, parents and teachers expect them to write at the same level as they speak”

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Children with dysgraphia struggle to write, often causing them to experience emotional stress and anxiety. Because they have good verbal skills, parents and teachers expect them to write at the same level as they speak; when they don't, they may be mistakenly thought of as lacking motivation or careless.

Dysgraphia can occur alone, or in children who also have dyslexia, other language disorders, or ADHD.

Causes

Writing is a complex process. It involves working memory and shifting among tasks that include generating ideas, thinking of words and word meaning, organizing good sentences, planning, and self-monitoring-all executive functions. Difficulty in any of the basic language or motor skills or in the executive functions needed to combine them end with the same result: problems with written expression.

In addition, difficulty controlling fine motor skills, sequencing the hand movements needed to write, or controlling spatial accuracy can cause non-language based dysgraphia.

Treatment

It is critical to identify the underlying problems resulting in dysgraphia; there might be more than one. An Occupational Therapist using a multi-sensory approach can address problems with handwriting, motor sequencing or visual spatial skills. A Speech and Language Therapist or a Special Education teacher can help with language-based problems such as the mastery of grammar, word usage, sequencing, and composition of sentences. A Special Education teacher will work with tools such as a graphic organizer, thought bubbles, and other strategies to help deal with specific executive function problems.

Accommodations are often needed to help dysgraphic children handle written work, including reduction of the load of writing in class and in homework, extended time to produce written work, and assistive technology to allow dictation.

Most dysgraphic children benefit from being allowed to use a keyboard and a word processing program, which reduces motor demands and allows them to edit and reorganize written work. Since writing is difficult, children benefit from Smart Boards on laptops or tablets to record writing on the board, and accommodations for note taking, such as using another student's notes or a study guide/outline of lecture information provided by the teacher. Many children with dysgraphia are allowed to use alternative methods to demonstrate knowledge rather than written exams.

Demands for written expression are constant across every subject and increase in every grade. Even in early grades, teachers need to be sensitive to dysgraphia when assigning projects to produce posters to be hung on the classroom walls or to write letters correctly on the lines. Children with dysgraphia need encouragement and remediation; there is nothing more discouraging than getting a paper back filled with red circles, corrections, and criticism.
Marcia Eckerd is an evaluator, consultant, and therapist who specializes in working with children with NLD and autism-spectrum disorders.
Related Smart Kids Topics

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Children with dysgraphia struggle to write, often causing them to experience emotional stress and anxiety. Because they have good verbal skills, parents and teachers expect them to write at the same level as they speak; when they don't, they may be mistakenly thought of as lacking motivation or careless.

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~Having a hard time writing in a straight line.
~writing letters in reverse.
~Having trouble finding out/ recalling how words are formed.
~Having difficulty understanding where lowercase and uppercase letters are.

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Identify challenges in the following areas:
- School
- Home
- Community
- Employment (for adults)
- Relationships
- Social and Emotional

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Going more in depth with how many children dysgraphia effects this website explains more on what part is effects and if it gets worse over time.

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Abstract

Writing is a complex task that is vital to learning and is usually acquired in the early years of life. 'Dysgraphia' and 'specific learning disorder in written expression' are terms used to describe those individuals who, despite exposure to adequate instruction, demonstrate writing ability discordant with their cognitive level and age. Dysgraphia can present with different symptoms at different ages. Different theories have been proposed regarding the mechanisms of dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is poorly understood and is often undiagnosed. It has a high rate of co-morbidity with other learning and psychiatric disorders. The diagnosis and treatment of dysgraphia and specific learning disorders typically centers around the educational system; however, the pediatrician can play an important role in surveillance and evaluation of co-morbidity as well as provision of guidance and support.

Keywords: Dysgraphia, specific learning disorder, disorder of written expression, accommodation, remediation, modification

Introduction: definitions and disagreement

At its broadest definition, dysgraphia is a disorder of writing ability at any stage, including problems with letter formation/legibility, letter spacing, spelling, fine motor coordination, rate of writing, grammar, and composition. Acquired dysgraphia occurs when existing brain pathways are disrupted by an event (e.g., brain injury, neurologic disease, or degenerative conditions), resulting in the loss of previously acquired skills. In contrast, this review will concentrate on developmental dysgraphia, i.e., the difficulty in acquiring writing skills despite sufficient learning opportunity and cognitive potential. This article will use the terms dysgraphia and specific learning disorder with impairment of written expression in their broadest terms, to encompass any difficulty an individual may have in written communication.

Much controversy exists regarding the precise definition of and deficits seen in dysgraphia, depending on the theoretical mechanisms attributed to the disorder ( 1). Historically, dysgraphia was most often defined as an impairment in the production of written text, usually due to a lack of muscle coordination. Specific testing in affected children highlighted minor differences in performance of fine motor tasks (e.g., repeated finger tapping) or abnormal measures of hand strength and endurance ( 2). These deficits stemmed from hindrance in fine motor coordination, visual perception, and proprioception and manifested an illegible or slowly formed written product. Oral spelling was usually preserved. This conceptualization of dysgraphia has been categorized as "motor" or "peripheral" dysgraphia ( 3).

Secondly, Deuel ( 4) proposed a second subtype of dysgraphia termed "spatial dysgraphia". The primary impairment in this sub-type of dysgraphia was thought to be related to problems of spatial perception, which impaired spacing of letters and greatly impacted drawing ability. In such cases, oral spelling and finger tapping were preserved but drawing, spontaneous writing, and copying text were impaired.

However, others have placed much more focus on the language processing deficits related to written expression, with less emphasis on any motor issues. Qualifying terms for this type of dysgraphia include "dysorthography", "linguistic dysgraphia", or "dyslexic dysgraphia" ( 5). The primary mechanism of this dysgraphia is related to inefficiency of the "graphomotor loop", in which the phonologic memory (regarding sounds associated to phonemes) communicates with the orthographic memory (regarding written letters). Impaired verbal executive functioning, including storage and working memory, have also been related to this disorder ( 5). Oral spelling, drawing, copying, and finger tapping are usually preserved in this type of dysgraphia. In contrast but related to dysgraphia, dyslexia is theorized to result from two-way dysfunction of the "phonologic loop", which is the communication between orthographic and phonologic processes.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 th edition (DSM-5) ( 6) includes dysgraphia under the specific learning disorder category, but does not define it as a separate disorder. According to the criteria, a set of symptoms (Table 1 ) should be persistent for a period of at least 6 months in the context of appropriate interventions in place. For any specific learning disorder, the academic skills as measured by individually administered standardized tests must fall significantly below expectations for the child's age. The onset of difficulty in learning is generally during early school years; however, it is more apparent as the complexity of work increases with progression to higher grades. Other causes of learning difficulty include intellectual disability, vision impairment, hearing impairment, underlying mental or neurological disorder, and lack of adequate learning support or academic instructions.

Table 1

Inaccurate or slow and effortful word reading

Difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read

Difficulty with spelling

Difficulty with written expression

Difficulties mastering number sense, number facts, or calculation

Difficulties with mathematical reasoning

In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) revised in 2004 broadly defines "Specific Learning Disability" in the following manner ( 7):

❖ The child does not achieve adequately for the child's age or to meet State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child's age or State-approved grade-level standards: Oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading fluency skills, reading comprehension, mathematics calculation, or mathematics problem solving.

❖ The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or State-approved grade-level standards in one or more of the areas when using a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based intervention; or the child exhibits a pattern of strengths and weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both, relative to age, State-approved grade-level standards, or intellectual development, that is determined by the group to be relevant to the identification of a specific learning disability, using appropriate assessments; and the group determines that its findings are not primarily the result of a visual, hearing, or motor disability; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; cultural factors; environmental or economic disadvantage; or limited English proficiency.

Between 10% and 30% of children experience difficulty in writing, although the exact prevalence depends on the definition of dysgraphia ( 8). As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, dysgraphia is more common in boys than in girls ( 9). Handwriting problems are a frequent reason for occupational therapy consultation. Dysgraphia and disorders of written expression can have lifelong impacts, as adults with difficulty writing may continue to experience impairment in vocational progress and activities of daily living ( 10).

Writing development

As noted above, the concept of "writing" encompasses a broad spectrum of tasks, ranging from the transcription of a single letter to the intricate process of conceptualizing, drafting, revising, and editing a doctoral dissertation. Writing is an important academic skill that has been associated with overall academic achievement ( 11). On average, writing tasks occupy up to half of the school day ( 12), and students with difficulty writing are often mislabeled as sloppy or lazy rather than being recognized as having a learning disorder. Deficient handwriting has been associated with lower self-perception, lower self-esteem, and poorer social functioning ( 13, 14).

The acquisition of writing follows a step-wise progression in early childhood; individuals who struggle with foundational writing skills are likely to exhibit greater delays as they fail to match their peers' growth in writing ability. In preschool, children are taught to copy symbols and shapes to develop the basic visual-motor coordination skills for transcription. Letter awareness typically begins in kindergarten and progresses through second grade, during which time the child becomes familiarized with the relationship between sounds and phonemes while continuing to grow in motor skills ( 15). Automaticity, in which individual letter writing has become a rote response, is usually developed by third grade ( 16). As many American school curricula no longer include specific instruction on the steps of letter formation, children who struggle to develop automaticity may fail to acquire this skill ( 5, 17). Automaticity and handwriting should continue to improve through the elementary school years ( 18) with implications for long-term outcomes; notably, the skill of automaticity is associated with higher quality and longer length of writing products in high school and college ( 19, 20).

Beyond the early school years, writing projects require the additional ability to organize, plan, and implement a complete written product. Such tasks require the recruitment of executive functioning and higher-order language processing. For example, writing a sentence requires several steps: (I) internally creating the desired statement; (II) segmenting the desired statements into sections for transcription; (III) retaining the sections in verbal working memory while executing the task of writing; and (IV) checking that the completed written product matches the original thought. Writing more complex products such as paragraphs or essays requires additional planning, organization, and revision to stitch together multiple statements and thoughts into a coherent whole. Failure to develop writing automaticity by third grade greatly increases the likelihood of difficulty in more complex writing tasks, as the child's higher cognitive functions may be preoccupied by the graphomotor requirements of letter formation.

Mechanisms and etiology

Many of the theories regarding mechanisms of dysgraphia have been derived from studies of individuals with acquired dysgraphia ( 21, 22). Writing has been shown to be a complex process that requires the higher order cognition (language, verbal working memory and organization) coordinated with motor planning and execution to constitute the functional writing system ( 23). Different writing tasks require different cognitive processes, and individuals with dysgraphia may have disorders in one or more areas. For example, when asked to spell a dictated word, the listener must utilize phonological awareness to access phonological long-term memory and the associated lexical-semantic representations. This in turn activates the orthographic long-term memory to create abstract letter representations that require motor planning and coordination to execute the task of writing, all maintained in the working memory. Spelling a pseudoword or novel word requires the function of sublexical spelling process that applies known phoneme-graphene conventions to predict the correct spelling. Generating a new word spontaneously would first require the usage of orthographic skills, which would then access the lexical representation. Writing rapidly and fluidly requires motor planning and coordination mediated by the cerebellum. Throughout the writing task, visual and auditory processing and attention is crucial to the production of legible writing.

Impairment in even one facet of the writing process can impair an individual's ability to generate an age-appropriate product ( 24). Although researchers have theorized that different subtypes of dysgraphia may be correlated to different mechanisms ( 25), newer studies have demonstrated interrelations between brain areas responsible for automaticity, language, and motor coordination. The perceived divergence between theories of dysgraphia may not be as great as once thought. For example, children with dyslexia have also been noted to be at increased risk for other mild motor deficits in tasks like finger tapping, riding a bike, and tying shoelaces.

Increased attention has also been placed on the cerebellum as playing a role in dysgraphia. Case studies have shown that cerebellar injury can cause symptoms of acquired dysgraphia, indicating that it plays some role in the coordination of writing ( 21). Functional imaging studies have also demonstrated that this region of the brain plays a vital role in language and automaticity ( 26). Possible mechanisms of involvement include the hypothesis that the cerebellum is required in the development of a neural system or framework, which can be disrupted in different ways and result in different functional impairments ( 1).

Genes and their role in the possible etiology or mechanisms of learning disorders is an emerging field. Genetic aggregation studies suggest that verbal executive function tasks, orthographic skills, and spelling ability may have a genetic basis. For example, genes on chromosome 15 have been linked to poor reading and spelling ( 27) and genes on chromosome 6 have been linked to phonemic awareness ( 28). Individuals with learning disabilities and their family members have been noted to have differential brain activation patterns on functional magnetic resonance imaging, suggesting a genetic contribution, but not causation ( 29). As the field of genetics continues to evolve, more information regarding the genetics of learning disorders like dysgraphia is likely to emerge.

Co-morbidities

Dysgraphia may occur in isolation but is also commonly associated with dyslexia as well as other disorders of learning. Depending on the definitions utilized, anywhere from 30% to 47% of children with writing problems also have reading problems. In addition, difficulty in writing can be seen in many other neurodevelopmental disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorder. Research demonstrates that 90-98% of children with these disorders struggle with writing ( 29- 32). Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), in which individuals have deficiencies in motor development and motor skill acquisition, often also affects writing development; around half of those with DCD also exhibit impaired writing abilities ( 33). With regards to the association between learning disorders and mental health disorders, co-morbidity is the rule, not the exception ( 34, 35). Given this high risk of co-morbidity, clinicians should be surveilling patients for possible related conditions; e.g., the patient with autism spectrum disorder should be monitored for problems with reading, writing, and math while the patient with dysgraphia may warrant an investigation of co-morbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Red flags

As academic demands increase and neurodevelopment progresses, dysgraphia may manifest in a variety of signs and symptoms. It can affect one or more levels of the writing process. As noted above, handwriting is typically developing in the early school years, and thus, dysgraphia is usually not recognized during this period. However, dysgraphia (especially isolated dysgraphia) may not be recognized, even into the young adult years. Co-morbid dyslexia and dysgraphia is more readily recognized, although impairments in reading ability are usually prioritized and addressed over impairments in writing. The National Center for Learning Disabilities has published a summary of warning signs for dysgraphia based on the age and stage of development (Table 2 ) ( 36). As in seen in the table, dysgraphia symptoms manifest first as concrete impairments at younger ages and later as abstract impairments at older ages.

Table 2

Age group

Signs or symptoms

Pre-school children

An awkward grip or body position when writing

Tire easily with writing

Avoidance of writing and drawing tasks

Written letters are poorly formed, inversed, reversed, or inconsistently spaced

Difficulty staying within margins

The school-aged child

Illegible handwriting

Switching between cursive and print

Difficulty with word-finding, sentence completion, and written comprehension

The teenager and young adult

Difficulty with written organization of thought

Difficulty with written syntax and written grammar that is not duplicated with oral tasks

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of specific learning disability is typically made in an educational setting by a team assessment, which often includes occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, special education teachers, and educational psychologists. In the United States, most often, the diagnosis is made following an assessment towards eligibility for an individualized educational plan ( 36). The diagnosis of a learning disability or dysgraphia can also be given through a psychoeducational evaluation outside of the educational system. As the term "dysgraphia" is not recognized by the American Psychological Association, there is no professional consensus on specific diagnostic criteria. As in the case for other learning disorders, a key factor should be the degree of difficulty that the writing impairment imposes on the child's access to the general education curriculum. Evidence should be drawn from multiple sources and contexts, including observation, anecdotal report, review of completed work, and normative data.

One expert recommendation for the diagnosis of dysgraphia is the following: slow writing speed; illegible handwriting; inconsistency between spelling ability and verbal intelligence quotient; and processing delays in graphomotor planning, orthographic awareness, and/or rapid automatic naming. Secondary tests to consider are evaluations of pencil grip and writing posture. Formalized handwriting assessments (Table 3 ) can be used to measure the speed and legibility of students when copying letters, words, sentences, and/or pseudowords. Visual-motor integration assessment may include evaluations such as the Beery Developmental Test of Visuomotor Integration (VMI) ( 37); however, these tests typically do not analyze difficulties specific to orthographic processes. Children with suspected dysgraphia should be evaluated for other potential learning problems given the high rates of co-morbidity with dyslexia and other learning disorders.

Table 3

Minnesota Handwriting Assessment

Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting

Scale of Children's Readiness in Printing

Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting

Beery Developmental Test of Visuomotor Integration (VMI)

There is no medical testing required or available for diagnosing dysgraphia. However, given the high rate of co-morbidity between psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and learning disorders, the physician should investigate for symptoms of possible related conditions. The physician should conduct a thorough neurologic examination, including "soft" neurologic signs like poor coordination, dysrhythmias, mirror movements, and overflow movements. Co-morbid neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and mood disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression) can be evaluated through the use of semi-structured interviews and/or validated parent and teacher report forms. Should screening procedures indicate any areas of concerns, the general medical practitioner should consider referring for specialist consultation for additional diagnostic conceptualization and treatment recommendations, including child neurology, child psychiatry, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, or other mental health providers.

Management

The primary intervention for dysgraphia and other learning disorders occurs in the educational setting. Interventions can generally be stratified into the following levels: (I) accommodation, where the student accesses the mainstream education curriculum with supportive or assistive resources without changing the educational content; (II) modification, where the school adapts the student's goals and objectives as well as provides services to reduce the effect of the disability; and (III) remediation, where the school provides specific intervention to decrease the severity of the student's disability. As the manifestations of dysgraphia and other learning disorders change with shifting academic demands and cognitive development, management of these conditions is a fluid and life-course process that must adapt with the most current level of impairment. As outlined by IDEA, the school system should assess and provide the necessary supports for the student's needs in the educational setting.

Accommodations

Accommodations should be directed to decrease to the stress associated with writing. Specific devices may be utilized, such as larger pencils with special grips and paper with raised lines to provide tactile feedback. Extra time can be permitted for homework, class assignments, and quizzes/tests. Depending on the student's comfort level, alternative ways of demonstrating knowledge (e.g., oral or recorded responses rather than written examination) can be considered. Technologic accommodations include automated spellcheck, voice-to-text recognition software, tablets, and computer keyboards; as devices become increasingly more advanced, new devices should be considered for their application in the classroom. However, handwriting practice should continue at school as written language is still needed for many daily tasks (e.g., filling out forms). Research has also demonstrated that the process of writing words by hand may provide a unique impetus to learning ( 38). It is important to note that accommodations may not directly address impairment of executive functioning tasks related to writing, including planning and organization. Computers and voice-to-text supports can decrease writing stress in those with continued automaticity challenges, but these accommodations do not address higher-level writing difficulties ( 39).

Modifications

Dysgraphia may require modifications to the student's academic program, especially with regards to written products. Teachers can opt to scale down large written assignments, break up large projects into smaller ones, or grade students based on a single dimension of their work (e.g., content or spelling, not both). In general, following the "least restrictive environment" for learning, the school should strive to keep the student within the mainstream education environment as much as possible.

Remediation

Remediation should be determined by the individual student's severity of difficulty in written expression. As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, early intervention produces the greatest gain ( 24). A stratified approach may be utilized following a response-to-intervention model (RTI). This model consists of three tiers of intervention; students who continue to struggle to lower tiers "step up" to higher tiers. Tier 1 consists of preventative screening on all students for learning differences. Expert recommendations have been written for general education teachers regarding ways to encourage sound writing habits ( 9). Tier 2 consists of targeted intervention towards students with specific learning issues. Tier 3 focuses the most intensive treatment on students who have continued to struggle and require the most support. In most intervention studies, students usually demonstrate improvement after 20 lessons over several weeks.

Most often, intervention for dysgraphia in the early elementary years focuses on developing fine motor skills. Motor activities for increasing hand coordination and strength include tracing, drawing in mazes, and playing with clay as well as exercises like finger tapping and rubbing/shaking the hands. Intervention can also include teaching grip control and good writing posture. However, research has demonstrated that teaching motor skills in conjunction with orthographic skills is the most effective approach ( 40). One example method of teaching orthographic tasks is described by Berninger ( 19): the student learns to write each letter by first visually learning the steps to write the letter (based on a sample with numbered arrow cues), then visualizing the act of writing the letter, using the cues to transcribe the letter, and checking the written product with the initial sample ( 41). Other techniques focus the learners' attention on the movements associated with writing rather than the written product itself [e.g., reviewing video models instead of static guides ( 42) and using placeholder pens without ink ( 43)].

The family should provide enjoyable writing activities outside of the educational setting so that the individual can learn that writing can be a pleasant and enjoyable experience. Research has demonstrated that educational games and activities can be used to help students practice retrieving letters from long-term memory ( 44).

Students with dysgraphia may also need help in more complex parts of writing, including planning, drafting, and revising, especially as they enter the middle and high school years. Randomized-control trials have shown that interventions like "writing clubs" can improve performance in students struggling with these skills. Another validated approach is the self-regulated strategy development program that has shown generalized and sustained efficacy ( 45). This curriculum specifically instructs in strategies of writing and self-regulation with students acting as collaborators during the course. Students who continue with writing difficulties in middle and high school may require additional specific instruction in composition ( 46, 47). Some psychoeducational programs (Table 4 ), handwriting programs (Table 5 ) and support groups (Table 6 ) are useful resources for children with dysgraphia and their families and other professionals.

Table 4

Name

Psychoeducation for parents

Table 5

Name

Handwriting supplemental programs

Big Strokes for Little Folks

Suitable for students who have problems writing letters but can recognize them. Published by Psychological Corp.

Sensible Pencil

A program to teach letter writing, applicable in the home and school. Published by ATC Learning Company

Conclusions

Writing is a skill that is central to learning and activities of daily living; it begins to develop in early childhood but continues through the school age. Though common in children, dysgraphia and disorders of written expression are often overlooked by the school and family as a character flaw rather than a genuine disorder. A variety of cognitive mechanisms have been proposed regarding the mechanism of dysgraphia and continued research is needed in the field to clarify the definition and etiology of the disorder. Regardless of the presenting symptoms, early diagnosis and intervention has been linked to improved results. Because of typical delay in the diagnosis of dysgraphia, the primary care provider can play an important role in recognizing the condition and initiating the proper work-up and intervention. Screening for co-morbid medical, neurodevelopmental, psychiatric and learning disorders is also an important function of the provider. Education and support for the family, coordination of care with the educational system, additional referrals to subspecialists, and follow-up screening for co-morbidities are important tasks for the primary care provider to adopt.

Notes

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest: DRP serves as the unpaid Deputy Editor-in-Chief of TP and the unpaid Guest Editor of the focused issue "Neurodevelopmental and Neurobehavioral Disorders in Children". TP. Vol 9, Supplement 1 (February 2020). The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

4. Deuel RK. Developmental dysgraphia and motor skills disorders. J Child Neurol 1995;10 Suppl 1:S6-8. 10.1177/08830738950100S103 [[ PubMed] [ CrossRef] Google Scholar]

14. Sassoon R. Dealing with adult handwriting problems. Handwriting Review 1997;11:69-74. [ Google Scholar]

Articles from Translational Pediatrics are provided here courtesy of AME Publications

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Disorder of written expression and dysgraphia: definition, diagnosis, and management

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Writing is a complex task that is vital to learning and is usually acquired in the early years of life. 'Dysgraphia' and 'specific learning disorder in written expression' are terms used to describe those individuals who, ...

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In the section that describes what dysgraphia is, the article discusses some links that have been found between certain events and the development of dysgraphia. While no causes can be confirmed, they do provide some events that frequently line up with the development of dysgraphia.

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National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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Learn About Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are studies that allow us to learn more about disorders and improve care. They can help connect patients with new and upcoming treatment options.

How can I or my loved one help improve care for people with dysgraphia?

All types of volunteers are needed- those who are healthy or may have an illness or disease- of all different ages, sexes, races, and ethnicities to ensure that study results apply to as many people as possible, and that treatments will be safe and effective for everyone who will use them.

For information about participating in clinical research visit NIH Clinical Research Trials and You . Learn about clinical trials currently looking for people with dysgraphia at Clinicaltrials.gov .

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Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect.

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This source discusses a few potential causes of dysgraphia and answers some common questions about the disability. It is a very informational source that could assist in helping families learn about their child's disability.

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What is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty turning their thoughts into written language for their age and ability to think, despite exposure to adequate instruction and education. Dysgraphia can present with many different symptoms at different ages. It's considered a learning difference.

Writing is a complex process that involves many skills and brain functions, including:

Fine motor skills.

Spatial perception (ability to perceive the space around you).

Working memory (ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind).

Orthographic coding (ability to form, store and recall letters, numbers and symbols).

Language processing.

Conceptualization.

Organization.

Because of this, dysgraphia is somewhat of a catch-all term to diagnose issues with writing and can be difficult to diagnose.

Dysgraphia generally appears when children are first learning to write. This is called developmental dysgraphia. People can also develop dysgraphia suddenly after some type of head or brain trauma. This is called acquired dysgraphia.

Dysgraphia is considered a "specific learning disorder" - more specifically, a "specific learning disorder in written expression."

Is dysgraphia a form of dyslexia?

Dyslexia and dysgraphia are two distinct neurological conditions, though they're easy to confuse because they share symptoms and often occur together.

Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes it harder for people to learn to read. If you have dyslexia, you may read more slowly or have trouble recognizing words. Often, people with dyslexia read at a lower level than expected. People with dyslexia may struggle to break words into sounds or relate letters to sounds when reading.

Dysgraphia involves difficulty with the act of writing. Difficulties can range from issues with physically writing words to issues with organizing and expressing thoughts in written form.

Is dysgraphia a form of autism?

Dysgraphia isn't a form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Though dysgraphia commonly occurs in people with autism, you can have dysgraphia without having autism.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by:

Difficulties in social communication differences.

Deficits in social interactions.

Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities.

Sensory problems.

Who does dysgraphia affect?

Dysgraphia can affect children and adults. As with many neurodevelopmental conditions, dysgraphia is more common in children assigned male at birth (AMAB) than in children assigned female at birth (AFAB).

You're more likely to have dysgraphia if other family members also have it, and dysgraphia is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

How common is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is common. Researchers estimate that 5% to 20% of people have dysgraphia. The estimated range is large because dysgraphia often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

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Dysgraphia: What It Is, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

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Dysgraphia is a neurological condition in which someone has difficulty with writing skills for their age despite exposure to adequate instruction.

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One potential cause of the development of dysgraphia is trauma. There has been a link shown between trauma and this disability. Any event that causes damage to the parietal lobe could be seen as a potential cause of dysgraphia. No cause has been identified for certain, but there have been links seen between these events. This disorder is usually identified when students begin to write, but it can be identified later in life in some cases.

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With dysgraphia, kids or adults have a harder time planning and executing the writing of sentences, words, and even individual letters. It’s not that you don’t know how to read, spell, or identify letters and words. It’s simply that you have a hard time processing certain words

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Dysgraphia makes it difficult for a person to form letters in writing. It's a neurological disorder that can affect children or adults. People with dysgraphia may also use the wrong word for what they're trying to communicate.

The cause of dysgraphia isn't always known, though in adults it sometimes follows a traumatic event.

Once the condition is diagnosed, you can learn strategies to help overcome some of the challenges it presents in school and in life.

Illegible handwriting is a common sign of dysgraphia, but not everyone with messy penmanship has the disorder. It's also possible to have neat handwriting if you have dysgraphia, though it may take you a long time and a lot of effort to write neatly.

Some common characteristics of dysgraphia include:

incorrect spelling and capitalization

mix of cursive and print letters

inappropriate sizing and spacing of letters

difficulty copying words

slow or labored writing

difficulty visualizing words before writing them

unusual body or hand position when writing

tight hold on pen or pencil resulting in hand cramps

watching your hand while you write

saying words aloud while writing

omitting letters and words from sentences

Other effects of dysgraphia

People with dysgraphia often have trouble concentrating on other things while writing. This can make it difficult to take notes during class or a meeting because so much attention is being paid to getting each word down on paper. Other things that are said may be missed.

Students with dysgraphia may also be accused of being sloppy or lazy because their handwriting isn't neat. This can affect self-esteem and lead to anxiety, a lack of confidence, and negative attitudes toward school.

If dysgraphia appears in childhood, it's usually the result of a problem with orthographic coding. This is an aspect of working memory that allows you to permanently remember written words, and the way your hands or fingers must move to write those words.

With dysgraphia, kids or adults have a harder time planning and executing the writing of sentences, words, and even individual letters. It's not that you don't know how to read, spell, or identify letters and words. Instead, your brain has problems processing words and writing.

When dysgraphia develops in adults, the cause is usually a stroke or other brain injury. In particular, injury to the brain's left parietal lobe may lead to dysgraphia. You have a right and left parietal lobe in the upper part of your brain. Each is associated with a range of skills, such as reading and writing, as well as sensory processing, including pain, heat, and cold.

Researchers are still learning the reasons why some children have learning disabilities, such as dysgraphia. Learning disabilities often run in families or are related to prenatal development, such as being born prematurely.

Children with dysgraphia often have other learning disabilities. For example, having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may raise the risk of having dysgraphia. That's because attention is closely linked to both writing and reading abilities.

Other learning disabilities associated with dysgraphia include dyslexia (trouble reading), and oral and written language (OWL) learning disability. OWL symptoms include trouble placing words in the right order in a sentence and difficulty remembering words.

Dyslexia is a reading disorder and dysgraphia is a writing disorder, but the conditions may sometimes be confused for one another. That's because people with dyslexia may also have problems with their writing and spelling.

It's possible to have both learning disabilities, but it's important to get a proper diagnosis so you know if one or both conditions require attention.

Diagnosing dysgraphia often requires a team of experts, including a physician and a licensed psychologist or other mental health professional trained in working with people who have learning disabilities. An occupational therapist, school psychologist, or a special education teacher may also help make the diagnosis.

For children, part of the diagnostic process may include an IQ test and an assessment of their academic work. Specific school assignments may also be examined.

For adults, examples of written work or written tests administered by a doctor may be evaluated. You will be observed as you write to look for fine motor skills problems. You may be asked to copy words from one source to another to help understand if there are language-processing problems.

Occupational therapy may be helpful in improving handwriting skills. Therapeutic activities may include:

holding a pencil or pen in a new way to make writing easier

working with modeling clay

tracing letters in shaving cream on a desk

drawing lines within mazes

doing connect-the-dots puzzles

There are also several writing programs that can help children and adults form letters and sentences neatly on paper.

If other learning disabilities or health issues are present, treatment options will need to address those conditions as well. Medications may be needed to treat ADHD, for example.

Living with dysgraphia

For some people, occupational therapy and motor skills training can help improve their writing ability. For others, it remains a lifelong challenge.

If you have a son or daughter with dysgraphia, it's important to work with your child's school and teachers on accommodations that are appropriate for this type of learning disability. Some classroom strategies that may help include:

a designated note taker in the classroom

use of a computer for notes and other assignments

oral exams and assignments, instead of written ones

extra time on tests and assignments

lesson or lecture notes provided by the teacher as printouts, recordings, or in digital form

pencils or other writing implements with special grips to make writing easier

use of wide-ruled or graph paper

And if you feel that the treatment you or children receive for dysgraphia isn't sufficient, don't give up. Look for other therapists or resources in your community that may help. You may need to be an aggressive advocate for your child, but keep in mind that there are laws and school policies designed to serve students with all types of learning challenges.

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Dysgraphia is a learning disability that can make it difficult for you or your child to write. It's different from dyslexia, though the two conditions can sometimes occur together. We explain symptoms, treatment options, and tips for helping you or your child to manage this condition.

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The causes of Dysgraphia in adults can be caused by some form of trauma and usually associated with damage Parietal lobe of the brain. According to Psych Central, Dysgraphia in a child is unknown They may have difficulty learning how to write despite getting adequate instruction in school and having the appropriate cognitive level to learn.

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This is another source that provides information regarding what dysgraphia is. It describes the disorder and provides information regarding assisting individuals who have this disability.

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At a glance

Dysgraphia refers to a challenge with writing.

It impacts skills like handwriting, typing, and spelling.

There are many ways people with dysgraphia can improve their writing skills.

Dysgraphia is a term that refers to trouble with writing. Many experts view dysgraphia as challenges with a set of skills known as transcription. These skills - handwriting, typing, and spelling - allow us to produce writing.

Trouble expressing your thoughts in writing isn't formally recognized as part of dysgraphia. That's a learning disability known as written expression disorder. But when people struggle with transcription, it can get in the way of thinking about ideas and how to convey them.

For example, people with dysgraphia may write more slowly than others. That can affect how well they express themselves in writing. Plus, they tend to have trouble with spelling because it's hard for them to form letters when they write.

Dysgraphia isn't a matter of intelligence. The challenges are often caused by trouble with motor skills. Those skills can improve with help. And people with dysgraphia may also be eligible to use accommodations at work or at school.

About the author

About the author

The Understood Team is made up of passionate writers and editors. Many of them have kids who learn and think differently.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Charles A. MacArthur, PhD is a professor emeritus of special education. He researches writing instruction, self-regulated strategies, and assistive technology.

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Dysgraphia is a writing challenge that affects skills like handwriting, typing, and spelling. It's not technically a learning disability, but it can affect learning.

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This source gives an overview of what dysgraphia is and provides examples of things people with this disability may struggle with. It also provides some information to assist families in helping their loved ones who have been diagnosed with dysgraphia.

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Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder characterized by writing disabilities. Specifically, the disorder causes a person's writing to be distorted or incorrect.

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Dysgraphia is a disability that affects a person's ability to create written expressions. Oftentimes, their writing is somewhat scrambled and may be difficult to understand. There may be times when they spell a word incorrectly or use the wrong word.

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This week, you will be working in groups based upon your chosen disability. During each class, you will be given a set of criterion to follow to construct your own research and find resources to create a disability padlet. On Friday of this week, you will be teaching another group about your disability using the padlet you have created, which will lead into our second edition of the Who Am I? Demystification poster regarding Specific Learning Disabilities.

Tasks: Conduct your own research (I have given you a head start with the resource hub) on each of the subtopics for each day. As always, based on course policy, do not copy and paste. Quote, summarize, and paraphrase. For each subtopic, you will also be required to find two resources (videos, links, websites, pdfs, etc.) to assist and teach others. Provide a brief description for each of your resources as well.

Subtopics: In each subtopic, you will need the following:
- Defining, summarizing, quoting, or paraphrasing to give an understanding of each one.
- Two resources + an explanation of each one.