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Did You Know?... |
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The National Statistics On Learning Disabilities
- 1 of 5 people in the U.S. has a learning disability.
- 2.9M school-aged children in the U.S. are classified as having a specific learning disability and receive special education support. Over 70,000 of these students are in the Kansas City metro area.
- 80% of students identified with a learning disability have a primary deficit in the area of reading.
- 2/3 of secondary students with learning disabilities are 3 grade levels behind in reading.
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Dysgraphia - What Is It?
 Dysgraphia plainly means difficulty expressing thoughts into writing. It may be identified as "disorder of written expression".
Dysgraphia is a learning disability resulting from the difficulty in expressing thoughts in writing. Sometimes it refers to exceptionally poor handwriting. When a student's handwriting difficulties are severe enough to meet special education criteria, then services are indicated. Most learning disabled students experience difficulty with handwriting and probably could be considered dysgraphic. However, in the public schools, the term is seldom used because of the lack of generally recognized criteria.
Students with Dysgraphia usually have sequencing problems, that is they typically have reversals of letters and numbers, writing words backwards, writing letters out of order and sloppy handwriting. They tend to have difficulty with the mechanics of writing (spelling, punctuation) and often get "stuck" on the details which means they regularly lose the thoughts they are trying to write about.
Students with ADHD often experience significant difficulty with writing and handwriting. This is because these students have difficulty sequencing and organizing information. ADHD students usually process information at a very swift rate and don't have the fine-motor skills to "keep up" with their thoughts. Some students have difficulty with writing because of an auditory processing or language processing disability. Because of this difficulty to understand language in general, they have difficulty with language expression.
Some Symptoms of Dysgraphia are:
- Strong verbal skills but poor writing skills
- Generally illegible handwriting
- Avoiding writing or drawing tasks
- Tiring quickly while writing
- Inconsistencies: mixture of print & cursive, upper & lower case, or irregular sizes,
- shapes, or slant of letters
- Reversals & syllable omissions
- Unfinished words or letters & omitted words
- Slow or labored copying
- Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
- Inconsistent spacing of letters and words
- Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper
Students with a written language disorder will benefit from specific accommodations in the learning environment, as well as additional practice learning the skills required to be a proficient writer. At Horizon Academy, the teachers and therapists use many strategies which facilitate students with Dysgraphia.
Recommended Strategies:
- Practice keyboarding skills
- Using graphic organizers
- Drawing pictures prior to writing
- Using specialized pencil grips
- Allowing more time to complete assignments
- Highlighting lined paper for spacing
- Handwriting Without Tears writing program
- Creative ideas for journaling
- Using assorted lined papers (raised lines for keeping writing on the lines)
Early intervention is important. Appropriate assessment, identification, and learning strategies are necessary for a student exhibiting signs of Dysgraphia to allow a student to be productive in the classroom and increase their written expression. Please contact us now if you would like to arrange a tour of Horizon Academy, schedule testing, or get more information on how we successfully teach students with Dysgraphia.
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