Symptoms of Dysgraphia

1.  Strong verbal but particularly poor writing skills.
2.  Random or nonexistent punctuation.  Spelling errors (sometimes the same word spelled differently)
     reversals; phonic approximations; errors in suffixes.  Clumsiness and disordering of syntax; an impression of
     literacy.  Misinterpretation of questions and questionnaire items.  Disordered numbering and written number
     reversals.
3.  Generally illegible writing.
4.  Inconsistencies:  mixture of print and cursive, upper and lower case, or irregular sixes, shapes or slant of
     letters.
5.  Unfinished words or letters, omitted words.
6.  Inconsistent position on page with respect to lines and margins and inconsistent spaces between words
     and letters.
7.  Cramped or unusual grip, especially holding the writing instrument very close to the paper, or holding
     thumb over two fingers and writing from the wrist.
8.  Slow or labored copying or writing - even if it is neat and legible.

Dysgraphia  is a learning disability resulting from the difficulty in expressing thoughts in writing  and graphing.  It generally refers to poor handwriting.  A student with any degree of handwriting difficulty may be labeled dysgrahic by some educational specialists, but may or may not need special education services.  Students with dysgraphia often have sequencing problems.  Studies indicate that what usually appears to be a perceptual problem (reversing letters/numbers, writing words backwards, writing letters out of order, and very sloppy handwriting) usually seems to be directly related to sequential/rational information processing.  They have difficulty with sequence of letters and words as they write.  These students need to slow down in order to write accurately, or experience extreme difficulty with the mechanics of  writing.  Sometimes as a result of slowing down, they lose the thought they are trying to write about.

Students with ADHD often experience significant difficulty with writing and formulas in general and handwriting in particular.  This is because ADHD students are often processing information at a very rapid rate and simply don't have the fine-motor skills to keep up with their thoughts.  Please remember that written language is the most difficult form of language expression.

Although most students with dysgraphia do not have visual or perceptual processing problems, they may experience difficulty with the writing speed and clarity simply because they aren't able to fully process the visual information as they are placing it on the page.  Also if they have a general auditory or language processing weakness weakness, they will have difficulty with language expression. (www,wvu.edu)

Next Time:  Symptoms of Dysgraphia

Welcome to the New School Year!

It's been an amazing summer, and we all look forward to this upcoming awesome school year.  Like the students, we have patiently been resting and thinking of all the amazing students we have touched this year and how much we expect them to return taller and more mature than before.

Wish us luck!