The most common learning disability is one that most people have never heard of – dysgraphia. According to the DSM-IV, its main symptom is “writing skills (that) …are substantially below those expected given the person’s …age, measured intelligence, and age-appropriate education”. The word dysgraphia itself means “writing difficulty,” and that is dysgraphia in a nutshell – a difficulty in writing. Many people have messy or sloppy or even illegible writing, but when it remains messy despite copious amounts of practice and effort, dysgraphia is very likely to be the culprit.
How Can I Tell if My Child Has Dysgraphia?
Symptoms of dysgraphia can include poorly spaced and shaped letters; a child’s handwriting getting worse instead of better with practice and effort, poor pencil grip, complaints of pain while writing, letter reversal long past age-appropriateness for this (usually by age 7), a strong aversion to writing, and, of course, illegible or very messy handwriting.
An individual with dysgraphia is also very likely to have dyslexia. Because of this, it’s long been believed by the medical community that dysgraphia also was caused by the types of visual processing issues that cause the dyslexic brain to see letters incorrectly. However, recent findings tend to support the idea that dysgraphia stems from sequencing delays instead – the brain has a difficult time organizing all the different impulses it needs to send to the muscles in the hand in order for the individual to write.
This theory is supported by the fact that individuals with dysgraphia often have other fine motor delays, such as problems tying their shoes, and is also supported by the fact that dysgraphic persons often can only write well when they slow down considerably.
This is a catch-22, of course; your child’s efforts at getting his great thoughts out onto the paper can be seriously derailed by the frustration of having to slow down to a snail’s pace. This frustration is often further exacerbated by the fact that no matter how hard the child tries, his or her efforts at producing legible handwriting are evaluated either by the parent or the teacher as being careless and sloppy.
What’s Next If I Suspect My Child is Dysgraphic?
If your child fits these symptoms and you suspect he or she may have dysgraphia, the child should be evaluated by a certified clinician as soon as possible. The diagnosis will be made not just on the basis of the child’s written sample, but also the process of writing – the grip on the pencil, the posture, the speed of writing, whether or not the child talks to him- or herself during writing (common among dysgraphics), and many other subtleties. The clinician may also test your child on a variety of other fine motor tasks. In addition, some experts recommend that the child be evaluated for visual processing delays, which can contribute to poor handwriting and dysgraphia.
Prognosis for dysgraphia depends on the quality and quantity of treatment, but almost all individuals learn to cope on their own to varying degrees over time. There are several strategies for treatment. Muscle training and occupational therapy for any present fine motor delays is helpful. Dysgraphia is definitely a case where practice makes perfect – letter formation should be carefully practice daily until the child’s handwriting improves to functional levels. Learning to type on a word processor is an invaluable skill for most dysgraphics; learning to write in cursive – which is much less confusing than manuscript due to fewer sequencing issues and the fact that it requires continuous strokes instead of a million individual strokes – can also be beneficial for the dysgraphic child.
Dysgraphia is a learning disability and should be treated as such. The child should never be made to feel that his or her handwriting is poor due to laziness or lack of effort – on the contrary, dysgraphic children put much more effort into their work than non-dysgraphic children just out of sheer necessity. Patience and accommodation for the child’s difficulties are required. Within the classroom, special allowances and arrangements should be made with the school and the child’s teacher – this is every child’s legal right.
Accommodations in the Classroom
Within a classroom or learning setting, there are many steps an educator can take to accommodate the needs of a dysgraphic student. The child might be allowed to turn in typed papers instead of hand-written papers. The school or the parent may coordinate ongoing occupational therapy for strengthening fine-motor muscle coordination and tone. The educator may allow the child to record all lectures on a tape recorder instead of requiring note-taking, or, if note taking is required, let the child make use of a copy of another student’s notes.
The educator may lessen the number of written problems to the dysgraphic child, with the rest being done orally. Younger struggling writers may be allowed to draw the lesson in the place of some or all of the writing requirement. Since the slow pace of writing is both frustrating and discouraging for the dysgraphic, the child may be encouraged to speak his or her essay into a tape recorder, and then write it down later at his or her own pace. Your child’s clinician and/or occupational therapist can give you many, many more options to help your dysgraphic child succeed in academics.
A caveat: one of the least recognized symptoms of dysgraphia is pain while writing, usually starting in the forearm and radiating to the hand. A child’s complaint of “But my hand hurts!” shouldn’t go ignored or be dismissed as an excuse. The pain, while not excruciating, is very real to the child and is his or her body’s way of indicating that a break is needed. These breaks should be allowed in ordinary educational settings for the dysgraphic child.
Most individuals with dysgraphia may never have beautiful handwriting, but they can certainly improve. The child should keep working on improving his or her handwriting despite any accompanying frustration. Typing on a word processor may be easier, but writing is a necessary life skill. With awareness, support and a great deal of understanding, every dysgraphic child can be helped to master this skill to the best of his abilities.
