Dysgraphia cannot be diagnosed solely by looking at a handwriting sample. A qualified clinician must directly test the individual. Such a test includes writing self-generated sentences and paragraphs and copying age-appropriate text. The examiner assesses not only the finished product, but also the process, including posture, position, pencil grip, fatigue, cramping or tremor of the writing hand, eyedness and handedness, and other factors. The examiner may assess fine-motor speed with finger-tapping and wrist turning.
Reprinted with permission
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
What are the different types of dysgraphia?
While dysgraphia may be broadly classified as follows, there are many individual variations that affect both treatment and prognosis:
Reprinted with permission
- In dyslexic dysgraphia, spontaneously written text is illegible, espceially when the text is complex. Oral spelling is poor, but drawing and copying of written text are relatively normal. Finger-tapping speed (a measure of fine motor speed) is normal.
- In motor dysgraphia, both spontaneously written and copied text may be illegible, oral spelling is normal, and drawing is usually problematic. Finger-tapping speed is abnormal.
- In spatial dysgraphia, people display illegible writing, whether spontaneously produced or prepared. Oral spelling is normal. Finger-tapping speed is normal, but drawing is very problematic.
Reprinted with permission
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
What Causes Dysgraphia?
A few people with dysgraphia lack only the fine-motor coordination to produce legible handwriting, but some may have a physical tremor that interferes with writing. In most cases, however, several brain systems interact to produce dysgraphia. Some experts believe that dysgraphia involves a dysfunction in the interaction between the two main brain systems that allows a person to translate mental into written langauge (phoneme-to-grapheme translation, i.e. Sound to symbol, and lexicon-to-grapheme translation, i.e. mental to written word). Other studies have shown that split attention, memory load, and familiarity of graphic material affect writing ability. Typically, a person with illegible handwriting has a combination of fine-motor difficulty, inability to revisulize letters, and inability to remember the motor patterns of letter forms
Reprinted with permission
Reprinted with permission
Monday, April 11, 2011
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
Thursday, April 7, 2011
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disability in the area of reading. It is included in the category of "Learning Disabilities" in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A person with dyslexia is someone with average to above average intelligence whose problem in reading is not the result of emotional problems, lack of motivation, poor teaching, mental retardation or vision or hearing deficits. The term dyslexia, however, is defined in different ways. While reading is the basic problem, people include different aspects of reading and related problems in their definitions. For example:
They may also exhibit difficulties with one or more of the following
Reading is more than translating print into the spoken word (decoding). Reading is getting meaning from print. People who have not developed automatic word recognition skills may have comprehension problems because their energy is focused on identifying words rather than thinking about what they mean. Many of these children and adults read very slowly, often having to read things more than once to understand. They may also have trouble understanding spoken language.
What causes dyslexia?
The basic cause of dyslexia is not known, however, much research is being done to determine the problems underlying dyslexia. Research indicates that, in many cases, dyslexia is inherited and may occur in several members of a family. Studies are being done to determine whether there are slight differences in the brains of people with dyslexia. Recent research indicates that many children having difficulty learning early reading skills (decoding) also have problems hearing individual sounds in words, analyzing whole words into parts, and blending sounds into words (phonological processing).
What should be done when dyslexia is suspected?
Individuals suspected of having a reading disability should have a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation including hearing, vision and intelligence testing. This evaluation should include all areas of learning and learning processes, not just reading. The diagnostician(s) should then be able to determine whether there are additional learning disabilities, make recommendations for teaching methods, and specify whether additional services are needed.
In many schools children are not identified as having a reading disability until they have failed for an extended period because of a "formula" used to determine whether a student is "eligible" for special services. A child should not have to fail for two or three years to demonstrate evidence of a learning disability.
What educational interventions are appropriate?
If a child is diagnosed as having a reading disability (or dyslexia), it is important for parents to ask exactly what the problem is, what method for teaching reading is recommended, and why it was selected. There are many approaches to teaching children with reading disabilities to read. Recent research on beginning reading skills indicated that many children having difficulty benefit from direct instruction in phonological processing and a multi-sensory phonics approach to reading. There is, however, no single method that will be effective with every child. A change in method should be considered if progress is not seen in a reasonable length of time. Selecting the appropriate reading method for a child with a reading disability is critical for success.
Widely advertised reading programs that claim to be successful in teaching phonics/reading to anyone should be viewed with caution. It is highly recommended that before investing in these programs, research documenting their effectiveness with individuals having a diagnosed reading disability (dyslexia) be requested and reviewed.
Source: LDAO: http://www.ldao.ca/
- Problems learning to translate printed words into spoken word with ease, beginning reading skills (decoding)
- Problems with word identification and/or reading comprehension
- Persons with dyslexia often reverse or mis-sequence letters within words when reading or writing (b/d, brid/bird, on/no)
They may also exhibit difficulties with one or more of the following
- Perceiving and/or pronouncing words
- Understanding spoken language
- Recalling known words
- Handwriting
- Spelling
- Written language
- Math computation
Reading is more than translating print into the spoken word (decoding). Reading is getting meaning from print. People who have not developed automatic word recognition skills may have comprehension problems because their energy is focused on identifying words rather than thinking about what they mean. Many of these children and adults read very slowly, often having to read things more than once to understand. They may also have trouble understanding spoken language.
What causes dyslexia?
The basic cause of dyslexia is not known, however, much research is being done to determine the problems underlying dyslexia. Research indicates that, in many cases, dyslexia is inherited and may occur in several members of a family. Studies are being done to determine whether there are slight differences in the brains of people with dyslexia. Recent research indicates that many children having difficulty learning early reading skills (decoding) also have problems hearing individual sounds in words, analyzing whole words into parts, and blending sounds into words (phonological processing).
What should be done when dyslexia is suspected?
Individuals suspected of having a reading disability should have a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation including hearing, vision and intelligence testing. This evaluation should include all areas of learning and learning processes, not just reading. The diagnostician(s) should then be able to determine whether there are additional learning disabilities, make recommendations for teaching methods, and specify whether additional services are needed.
In many schools children are not identified as having a reading disability until they have failed for an extended period because of a "formula" used to determine whether a student is "eligible" for special services. A child should not have to fail for two or three years to demonstrate evidence of a learning disability.
What educational interventions are appropriate?
If a child is diagnosed as having a reading disability (or dyslexia), it is important for parents to ask exactly what the problem is, what method for teaching reading is recommended, and why it was selected. There are many approaches to teaching children with reading disabilities to read. Recent research on beginning reading skills indicated that many children having difficulty benefit from direct instruction in phonological processing and a multi-sensory phonics approach to reading. There is, however, no single method that will be effective with every child. A change in method should be considered if progress is not seen in a reasonable length of time. Selecting the appropriate reading method for a child with a reading disability is critical for success.
Widely advertised reading programs that claim to be successful in teaching phonics/reading to anyone should be viewed with caution. It is highly recommended that before investing in these programs, research documenting their effectiveness with individuals having a diagnosed reading disability (dyslexia) be requested and reviewed.
Source: LDAO: http://www.ldao.ca/
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tips for Helping Children Achieve Academic Success
Consistency is a key factor for children's academic success. Set a standart time for dinner to be served, and try to make dinner time including family discussions last a consistent duration. Once dinner is over, make it a rule that this is when your child must complete his/her homework. If your child is not involved in athletics or orther school events, then on some days your child can do homework before dinnertime. If your child finishes all his/her homework before dinner, then after dinner study time should be used for reading or other educaitonal activities.
Teach your child that learning is more important than just memorizing facts and completing an assignment. This is one of the most misunderstood and confusing concepts for children to understand. Ask your child after completion of each homeowrk assignment to write down a couple sentences about what he/she learned, not facts, but broader concepts. This will help your child put his/her learning into perspective.
Encourage your child to take notes in class. Developing proper note taking skills are vital to your child's learning. Rather than have your child try and write everything down as fast as possible, teach your child to search for the teacher's mian point and summarize it in your child's own words. This will help your child weed throught he garbage and focus in on the teacher's core message. After the lecture, encourage your child to rewrite the notes, expand on them, and organzie them in a meaningful way. This is a great way for your child to review the material, and the improved organziation will help your child study for the test in the weeks to come.
Have the appropriate learning resources handy. It used to be that keeping a home dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopaedia in an accessible place was imperative for your child to complete homework assignments. Now all your child needs is an internet connection and vast amounts of information is at your child's finger tips. It is worth the investment to get a high speed DSL or Cable internet connection so information is more accessible. Also make the investment of a quality digital flat panel monitor. If your child spends lots of time researching, writing and reading on the computer it will save your child's eyes.
Reprinted with permission by: math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org
Teach your child that learning is more important than just memorizing facts and completing an assignment. This is one of the most misunderstood and confusing concepts for children to understand. Ask your child after completion of each homeowrk assignment to write down a couple sentences about what he/she learned, not facts, but broader concepts. This will help your child put his/her learning into perspective.
Encourage your child to take notes in class. Developing proper note taking skills are vital to your child's learning. Rather than have your child try and write everything down as fast as possible, teach your child to search for the teacher's mian point and summarize it in your child's own words. This will help your child weed throught he garbage and focus in on the teacher's core message. After the lecture, encourage your child to rewrite the notes, expand on them, and organzie them in a meaningful way. This is a great way for your child to review the material, and the improved organziation will help your child study for the test in the weeks to come.
Have the appropriate learning resources handy. It used to be that keeping a home dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopaedia in an accessible place was imperative for your child to complete homework assignments. Now all your child needs is an internet connection and vast amounts of information is at your child's finger tips. It is worth the investment to get a high speed DSL or Cable internet connection so information is more accessible. Also make the investment of a quality digital flat panel monitor. If your child spends lots of time researching, writing and reading on the computer it will save your child's eyes.
Reprinted with permission by: math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org
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