DYSGRAPHIA DINESH JOMADAR Post Graduate Certificate in Education University of Westminster Dysgraphia is a learning difficulty disability that affects written expression that is, how easily children acquire written language and how well they use written language to express their thoughts. Dysgraphia is the condition of impaired letter writing by hand, that is, disabled handwriting and sometimes spelling and trouble putting thoughts on paper. Dysgraphia can be a language based, and/or non-language based disorder. (DFS Literacy and Clinical Services, Introduction Focal Disability Info on it Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position. Illegible handwriting. Avoiding writing or drawing tasks. Tiring quickly while writing. Saying words out loud while writing. Unfinished or omitted words in sentences. Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper. Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar. Large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech. (LD Online – The world’s leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD, Learner is falling behind with written schoolwork and cannot keep up with written assignments independently. Student has laboured writing and fatigues easily when completing written schoolwork. Experiences of physical pain/hand cramping when writing. Pupil has written schoolwork that is often illegible/difficult to read. Difficulty in reading what they have written. Spends an inordinate amount of time completing class assignments. Spends too much time after school/at night completing homework Has written content that does not “match” their thought content. Shows continued frustration/avoidance and behaviours/crying/stress when asked to complete written assignments. Requires someone to write much of their written schoolwork for them (a scribe). (Handwriting problem solutions – solutions for kids with written output disorders, solutions.com) solutions.com Strategies & Support Make a cut-out where the name, date, and assignment would go and model it next to the cutout. Three-hole punch it and put it into the binder on top of the student's writing paper. Then the student can set up his paper and copy the heading information in the holes, then flip the template out of the way to finish the assignment. This can be done with worksheets too. (The Resource Room – Free spirited Structured Multisensory Learning, See Figure 1 Hand movement. See Figure 2 There are many ways to help a student with dysgraphia. One of them is Hand Strengthening Exercises – there are lots of activities which can be used to strengthen the hands, for example squeezing balls, stretching fingers, rubbing hands together and doing warm up activities prior to any writing tasks. Occupational Therapy could be considered where muscle tone strengthening is required or advice to improve dexterity and hand/eye co-ordination. See figure 3 T & L Implications Assessment References Ensure that all the pupil's teachers know about the difficulty and understand its implications. Consider requests to examination boards, as appropriate, for: Scribes, Use of tape recorder, Transcription of examination scripts, with or without correction, Non-penalisation of spelling errors, Allow extra time for writing assignments, find alternative means of assessing – oral, visual etc, use of computer to present work, support self-esteem by positive praise, encourage the pupil to talk about their ideas as well as having to write them down, encourage computing/word processing skills, again to demonstrate that the pupil can produce high quality work and support confidence, edit your work, check your work for proper spelling, grammar and syntax, use spell-checker if necessary or a peer partner.. ( Dsf – Literacy and Clinical Services, Available at: accessed on 25 th May 2013http:// LD Online – The world’s Leading Website on Disabilities and ADHD, Availkable at: accessed on 23 rd May 2013http:// Handwriting Problems Solutions – Solutions For Kids with Written Output Disorders, Available at: accessed on 29 th May 2013http:// Resource Room – Free Spirited Structured Multisensory Learning, Available at: accessed on 26 th May 2013http:// SNAP – Special Needs Assessment Profile, Available at: accessed on 30 th May 2013http:// Wrightslaw, Available at: accessed on 31 st May 2013http:// About.com – Learning Disabilities, Available at: accessed on 1 st June 2013http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/learningd isabilitybasics/p/dysgraphia.htm In summary, dysgraphia is a specific learning disability that can be diagnosed and treated. Children with dysgraphia usually have other problems such as difficulty with spelling and written expression, as well as dyslexia and, in some cases, oral language problems. It is important that a thorough assessment of handwriting and related skill areas be carried out in order to plan specialized instruction in all deficient skills that may be interfering with a student’s learning of written language. For example, a student may need instruction in both handwriting and oral language skills to improve written expression. Although early intervention is, of course, desirable, it is never too late to intervene to improve a student’s deficient skills and provide appropriate accommodations. ( Figure 1 A laminated template format for written work. Figure 3 The differentiation between a normal learner mind and a learner suffering from dysgraphia. Figure 2 Child playing with clay. Comprehensive psychological and educational evaluations can assist in the diagnosis of Dysgraphia. Diagnostic writing tests can be used to determine if the learner's writing skills are normal for his age. They can also provide information on his writing processing. Through observations, analyzing student work, cognitive assessment, and occupational therapy evaluations, educators can develop comprehensive, individualised treatment plans. (