Dysgraphia: The Handwriting Learning Disability

Over the next few days we will be taking a look at Dysgraphia

What is dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia means difficulty with handwriting.  There are several different kinds of dysgraphia.  Some people with dysgraphia have handwriting that is often illegible and shows irregular and inconsistent letter formations.  Others write legibly, but very slowly and/or very small.  When these individuals revert to printing, as they often do, their writing is often a random mixture of upper and lower case letters.  In all cases of dysgraphia, writing requires inordinate amounts of energy, stamina and time.

Dysgraphia can interfere with a student's ability to express ideas.  Expressive writing requires a student to synchronize many mental functions at once:  organization, memory, attention, motor skill, and various aspects of language ability.  Automatic accurate handwriting is the foundation for this juggling act.  In the complexity of remembering where to put the pencil and how to form each letter, a dysgraphic student forgets what he or she meant to express.  Dysgraphia can cause low classroom productivity, incomplete homework assignments, and difficulty in focusing attention.

Emotional factors arising from dysgraphia often exacerbate matters.  At an early age, these students are asked to forego recess to finish coping material from the board, and are likely to be sent home at the end of the day with a sheaf of unfinished papers to be completed.  They are asked to recopy their work but the second attempt is often no better than the first.  Because they are often bright and good at reading, their failure to produce acceptable work is blamed on laziness or carelessness.  The resulting anger and frustration can prevent them fromr ever reaching their true potential.

Reprinted with permission