Dysgraphia

Professional Perspective

Watch the videos below.

Dr. Ewa

Lorri

https://vimeo.com/386510171Disabilities related to the physical act of writing are known as dysgraphia. Children with dysgraphia often cannot hold a pencil correctly, and their posture may be tense while trying to write. This leads them to tire easily, get discouraged, and fail to progress.
Dysgraphia can also refer to difficulty with written expression and having trouble organizing thoughts coherently. Their writing may be redundant or have obvious omissions that affect the quality and readability of the text. Dysgraphia may also cause children to struggle with basic sentence structure and grammatical awareness.

Is This Your Child?

*This information is meant to be an educational and general interest program and is NOT intended to replace professional therapy, counselling, diagnosis or advice.

How many apply to your child?

• Struggles to draw, trace, or reproduce simple shapes; resists art activities that involve drawing.
• Cannot tie shoes after age 8
• Doesn’t like helping you with the grocery list, leaving a note for Dad, or any other quick writing-related chore.
• Often tries to get out of at-home writing assignments or complains that he doesn’t know what to write.
• Trouble using scissors, buttoning clothes, or zipping zippers.
• May eat awkwardly; struggles to use a knife and fork at the same time.
• Movements often don’t appear fluid; opposite arms and hands move out-of-sync with one another.

Parenting a Child with Dysgraphia

How can I help my child with Dysgraphia?

Practice air-writing with the child’s fingers.
Help them “feel” letters by tracing on their back or palm.
Introduce textures by writing in sand, clay, or foam.
Verbalize the motor sequence of writing letters.
Practice air-writing with the child’s fingers.

Practice air-writing with the child’s fingers.

For instance, use your finger to “write” the letters “C-a-t” in the air. Then, guide the child’s fingers in the same motions. With some practice, they will be able to do the air-writing themselves.

Writing in the air with your fingertip uses more muscles than putting pencil to paper, and it provides greater multisensory stimulation. Stimulating more senses and parts of the body can help overcome the sequential processing issues that people with dysgraphia face.

Help them “feel” letters by tracing on their back or palm.

Help them “feel” letters by tracing on their back or palm.

For example, write “R-a-i-n” on their back with your finger, then repeat it on their palm. Guide their finger to write it again on their palm, and eventually encourage them to do it themselves.

This technique provides many of the same benefits as air-writing, but also adds greater sensory stimulation through touch.

Introduce textures by writing in sand, clay, or foam.

Introduce textures by writing in sand, clay, or foam.

Introduce textures by writing in sand, clay, or foam.

If you have access to a sandbox (or a beach!), wet down and smooth out the sand and practice finger writing in it. Or, press some modelling clay into a baking sheet and write in it with a chopstick or dull pencil. In either case, both writing and “erasing” provide added sensory stimulation!

You can also form the clay into ropes with the child and practice forming letters and words out of it.

During bath time, you can smooth a coat of shaving foam on the shower wall and practice writing in it as well.

Verbalize the motor sequence of writing letters.

Verbalize the motor sequence of writing letters.

While finger-writing, using sand or clay, or writing on paper, try describing each element of writing each letter. After introducing the concept, encourage them to do the same while practicing with you.

For instance: “The letter “d” has a straight line from top to bottom, then a loop to the left on the bottom. The letter “o” is just a circle all the way around—we need two of them. The letter “r” has a short up-and-down line, then adds a hook to the right at the top.”

Use pinching exercises to improve their pencil grip.
Address fatigue with quick exercises and stress reducers.
Address fatigue with quick exercises and stress reducers.
Use pinching exercises to improve their pencil grip.

Use pinching exercises to improve their pencil grip.

Because they avoid writing and/or struggle to maintain an efficient and consistent pencil grip, kids with dysgraphia may deal with hand fatigue while writing. To strengthen their hands and improve their fine motor skills, employ exercises disguised as games that involve picking up objects with tweezers, chopsticks, tongs, etc.

Also take time before each writing session to practice making and maintaining a comfortable pencil grip.

Address fatigue with quick exercises and stress reducers.

Address fatigue with quick exercises and stress reducers.

Dysgraphia can make sitting down and writing much more physically and mentally draining.

Before, during, and after writing sessions, encourage kids to do quick maneuvers such as the following.

Shaking their hands quickly (but not too vigorously) for 10 seconds.

Rubbing their palms together in circles or using their palms to rub circles on a rug or their pant legs, for 10 seconds.

Doing a few “sitting push-ups” by using their hands on the chair to slightly boost their backside off the chair.

Getting up and doing a quick session of jumping jacks or other calisthenics, or simply stretching out a bit.

Address fatigue with quick exercises and stress reducers.

Practice “structured storytelling” to help them organize their writing.

While working to improve the child’s physical act of writing, don’t ignore the mental aspect. Ask them to tell you a story, but give them structured prompts along the way— “What is the story about?” “How does the story begin?” “What happens after that?

Many kids with dysgraphia come up with fantastically creative stories and writing ideas but struggle mightily to coalesce them into something they can put on paper in a coherent fashion.

Employ the POWER method for writing paragraphs or essays.

All kids need practice learning how to organize their thoughts and structure their writing, but PIC # 19-60(small)
children with dysgraphia often need enhanced training. Anytime a child has to write something substantial—an essay, a paragraph, even a sentence depending on their age and ability level—guide them in using the POWER method:
P
O
W
E
R
P
Plan what you want to write, verbally, in diagrams or pictures, or both.
O
Organize what you’ll write in more detail, again using some combination of verbalization and diagrams/pictures.
W
Write a draft that follows your organized plan.
E
Edit your draft by reading it over, using a spellchecker, and/or having someone else look it over (the specifics here will vary based on age level/ability level/assignment).
R
Revise your work and create the finished draft.
Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

General Parenting Tips that Can Help-All Work and No Play

All Work and No Play?
A Couple of Tips
All Work and No Play?

Children with a learning disability work very hard to accomplish what they can – both at school, home and socially. Because they process things differently but still usually must function on a conventional world, they often exert a much greater effort than their peers.

They need breaks and opportunities to play in unstructured ways doing things they enjoy without pressure. But did you realize that while they are playing, children are also still learning? Play provides a child with the opportunity to build important skills and is a universal learning experience and a process that is vital to the healthy development of every child. It allows children to explore the world in which he/she lives and grows.

Giving your child the opportunity for unstructured play doing something they enjoy can result in a self-motivating, imaginative, spontaneous, and creative experience while they learn a variety of life skills at the same time? This is true for children of any age and skill level because play is learning.

Play provides opportunities for children to:

• Investigate and explore
• Learn about cause and effect
• Understand relationships between objects but also people
• Become whomever they desire through pretend play
• Make choices
• Have control
• Take chances
• Feel free to make mistakes and try again without being told they’re wrong
• Be creative and use their imagination
• Learn and practice social skills
• Develop language
• Express their feelings and emotions

A Couple of Tips

• Over protecting children can inhibit their development and in the long term, possibly damage their self-esteem.
• Outdoor time (sometimes referred to as ‘green time’ can greatly benefit your child with an LD because it is away from their regular classroom environment and away from the academic pressure.
• Your child may enjoy one on one play with another child as opposed to large group play: experiment to see what they enjoy most.
• Some children with an LD have difficulties playing harmoniously with others in traditional settings; look for alternatives such as summer camps (preferably outdoors) where counsellors are experienced, knowledgeable and accepting of children with LDs. This will help give your child an opportunity to play in a group environment aided by counsellors.
• When a child is passionate about something, they are more likely to be really interested in related activities, objects or concepts. If your child shows great interest in building structures for example, provide them age appropriate materials such as blocks, legos or popsicle sticks. Point out interesting building structures on your way home from school, take out supporting books from the library. Watch movies or children’s shows about your child’s interests. Allow them to create and make objects to decorate their room according to their interests ie: dolphins, starfish, lions etc.

The Words of The Expert

The following information is by Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an expert in phonological processing, writing instruction, and professional development in literacy.
**Although this next section refers to teachers, parents can also apply these strategies at home in helping their child.

If your child has dysgraphia, or if you think your child may have dysgraphia, you may be wondering what can help. There are no medications for dysgraphia. But there are therapies and teaching strategies that can address your child’s difficulties with writing. Assistive technology (AT) can also help. And there are many things you can do at home to improve writing-related skills and encourage your child to write. 

Instruction and Support for Dysgraphia

Writing is a complicated process that involves many skills. There are no specific teaching approaches or programs just for dysgraphia. That doesn’t mean teachers can’t help kids with writing issues, however.

There are specific teaching techniques to help kids with dysgraphia. (They can help other struggling writers, too.) Teachers will choose the strategies they use based on a student’s specific challenges.

Writing challenges are often related to reading issues. Many kids with dysgraphia also have dyslexia. They may need to work on basic reading skills like decoding in order to write well.

Decoding is especially important for spelling. So, to help with this skill, teachers might focus on:

• Letter-sound relationships
• Syllable patterns
• Relations between meanings and letter groupings

Kids with dysgraphia don’t naturally pick up on the rules of writing. Teachers use explicit instruction to help them learn these rules. They might teach kids where to put verbs and nouns in a sentence, for example, and how and where to use punctuation.

They also might teach students a prompt or cue to help them recall the unique parts of a particular kind of writing, like a story. (This is called a mnemonic.) And teachers might give students a graphic organizer to help them plan a paper.

One area kids with dysgraphia often struggle with is transcription. This broad skill covers handwriting, keyboarding and spelling.

Teachers may use multisensory techniques to help kids improve in this area. Assistive technology for writing can also help kids build skills and work around weak spots.

There are also a number of classroom accommodations for dysgraphia. These include extended time, teacher-made outlines for taking notes, and being able to answer test questions orally instead of in writing.

Therapies for Dysgraphia

Some kids with dysgraphia struggle with the physical act of writing.

Occupational therapy can often help with this. Therapists can work to improve the hand strength and fine motor coordination needed to type and write by hand. They might also help kids learn the correct arm position and body posture for writing.

Educational therapy can help kids with other aspects of writing. Therapists can teach kids strategies to work around their weak spots.

They might help kids use positive self-talk to manage writing challenges. Therapists may also help kids with setting reasonable and relevant goals for writing. And they might show them how to track goal progress with visual tools. These strategies help kids approach writing assignments in ways that reduce frustration.

Treatment for Co-Occurring Issues

Kids with learning and attention issues often have more than one condition at the same time. It’s common for kids with dysgraphia to also have ADHD, anxiety, and/or depression. Dyslexia also often co-occurs with dysgraphia.

ADHD treatment like medication doesn’t directly help with dysgraphia. But treating the symptoms of ADHD, like inattention, can help to reduce some of the trouble kids have with writing. The same is true of anti-anxiety medication and antidepressants.

Therapy for these conditions may also help. That includes cognitive behavioral therapy and behavior therapy.

Dyslexia and dysgraphia are very different. But there’s a lot of overlap between them. Working on reading problems can also help with writing challenges. (Working on writing issues can do the same for reading problems.) There are a number of approaches and programs for teaching kids with dyslexia to read.

Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an expert in phonological processing, writing instruction, and professional development in literacy.

Parent/Caregiver Tip

Ways to Help with Dysgraphia at Home

There are many ways you can help your child build writing skills at home. Try out pencil grips and other tools that may make writing easier. Download tools to help with handwriting and graphic organizers to help with writing assignments.

Have your child try strategies for self-regulation in writing. You can also look into apps, software and Chrome tools that help with writing.

Gary A. Troia, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an expert in phonological processing, writing instruction, and professional development in literacy.

The Words of a Parent

• LISTEN
• READ

Few people recognize dysgraphia for what it is—an enormous stumbling block to academic success. Microsoft Word certainly doesn’t get it. I type “dysgraphic,” and my word processor flags it as a spelling error.

My son has dysgraphia, but there was a time when I didn’t get it either. Doctors are notorious for their illegible handwriting. If they can sail through school with a chicken scratch scrawl, well then, why worry? What I didn’t realize is that for kids with dysgraphia, bad handwriting is just the tip of the iceberg.

The bigger issue for my son is the way dysgraphia weakens his ability to think clearly when writing. How it makes him struggle to put his thoughts down on paper. Early on I didn’t see it that way. So I went with the advice of his teacher at the time and pushed him to improve his penmanship. But practice didn’t make perfect for my son. We tried everything from pencil huggers to alternative grip pens, and special paper with raised lines to keep his writing more uniform. Nothing worked.

In fact, I noticed that as he got older and the complexity of his assignments grew, his handwriting got worse not better. So I tried a different approach. Henry was in the fourth grade and we were practicing for an upcoming spelling test. On his first practice test, he wrote out the answers longhand and only spelled six of the 15 words correctly. That wasn’t going to cut it.

So, for the next go-round, I suggested he try typing in his answers on my laptop. The result: His score immediately jumped to 12 out of 15 words correct. It was then I began to understand what it means to be dysgraphic. It was a rude awakening, but it opened my eyes to how this learning issue affects almost every task in my son’s school day.

Another realization evolved gradually. Dysgraphia was having a huge effect on my son’s self-esteem. The changes in his personality were subtle, so I didn’t notice over a day, a week or even a month. As he got older, other children’s writing improved. His did not. And, unknown to me, he would hear about it from the other kids. Classmates would comment on his poor penmanship. He would laugh it off and pretend he didn’t care. However, the constant commentary was slowly chipping away at his soul.

Of course, his teachers had the best intentions by assigning art-heavy projects to keep students engaged. Most kids love to show what they know using poster boards, glitter glue and colored markers. But for my son, whose best efforts wouldn’t even impress a preschool teacher, these assignments were discouraging.

Once I was able to better understand how dysgraphia affects my son, I made it my mission to help level the playing field for him. I talked to his teachers about how art projects were causing him so much agony. Thankfully, when I brought this to their attention, they agreed to offer other ways for him to complete projects.

Sometimes, my son makes videos. Other times, he creates a PowerPoint presentation. Also, I make sure he always has the option of taking tests and notes with a keyboard. His grades, by the way, have improved greatly.

I’ve been trying to meet the challenges of my son’s dysgraphia for nearly a decade. I know I can’t “fix” his handwriting. But by understanding his struggles, I can be his advocate. This can mean anything from educating friends, family and teachers to researching the latest assistive technologies

The role of advocate is time consuming, and it can be frustrating. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I will get him through this and ensure he thrives. It’s what we moms do.

Dawn Margolis Denberg is a San Francisco–based freelance writer and a co-developer of ModMath, a free app for kids with dysgraphia.

“She may have looked normal on the outside, but once you’d seen her handwriting you knew she was deliciously complicated inside.”

Take-away Tips

Parenting a Child with Dysgrahia? Tips to Help
Parenting a Child with Dysgrahia? Tips to Help