Understanding Dysgraphia in Students

"When you have a bad cell phone connection, you just hang up and call back.

What if you couldn’t and you did not have control over how things were coming into your brain?

This is what it is like to have dysgraphia. You cannot control how things are processed and put together in your brain."

Description:

• Dysgraphia is a condition that causes trouble with written expression. The term comes from the Greek words dys (“impaired”) and graphia (“making letter forms by hand”). Dysgraphia is a brain-based issue. It’s not the result of a child being lazy.
• For many children with dysgraphia, just holding a pencil and organizing letters on a line is difficult. Their handwriting tends to be messy. Many struggle with spelling and putting thoughts on paper.[1] These and other writing tasks—like putting ideas into language that is organized, stored and then retrieved from memory—may all add to struggles with written expression.

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/understanding-dysgraphia

Indicators:

Just having bad handwriting doesn't mean a person has dysgraphia. Since dysgraphia is a processing disorder, difficulties can change throughout a lifetime. However since writing is a developmental process -children learn the motor skills needed to write, while learning the thinking skills needed to communicate on paper - difficulties can also overlap.

If a person has trouble in any of the areas below, additional help may be beneficial.

• 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.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/12770/

Accommodations:

When considering accommodating or modifying expectations to deal with dysgraphia, consider changes in

·         Change the demands of writing rate

·         Allow more time for written tasks including note-taking, copying, and tests

Allow students to begin projects or assignments early

·         Include time in the student's schedule for being a 'library assistant' or 'office assistant' that could also be used for catching up or getting ahead on written work, or doing alternative activities related to the material being learned.

·         Encourage learning keyboarding skills to increase the speed and legibility of written work.

·         Have the student prepare assignment papers in advance with required headings (Name, Date, etc.), possibly using the template described below under "changes in complexity."

·         Adjust the volume

·         Instead of having the student write a complete set of notes, provide a partially completed outline so the student can fill in the details under major headings (or provide the details and have the student provide the headings).

·         Allow the student to dictate some assignments or tests (or parts of tests) a 'scribe'. Train the 'scribe' to write what the student says verbatim ("I'm going to be your secretary") and then allow the student to make changes, without assistance from the scribe.

·         Remove 'neatness' or 'spelling' (or both) as grading criteria for some assignments, or design assignments to be evaluated on specific parts of the writing process.

·         Allow abbreviations in some writing (such as b/c for because). Have the student develop a repertoire of abbreviations in a notebook. These will come in handy in future note-taking situations.

·         Reduce copying aspects of work; for example, in Math, provide a worksheet with the problems already on it instead of having the student copy the problems.

·         Change the complexity

·         Break writing into stages and teach students to do the same. Teach the stages of the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, editing, and proofreading, etc.). Consider grading these stages even on some 'one-sitting' written exercises, so that points are awarded on a short essay for brainstorming and a rough draft, as well as the final product. If writing is laborious, allow the student to make some editing marks rather than recopying the whole thing. On a computer, a student can make a rough draft, copy it, and then revise the copy, so that both the rough draft and final product can be evaluated without extra typing.

·         Do not count spelling on rough drafts or one-sitting assignments.

·         Encourage the student to use a spellchecker and to have someone else proofread his work, too. Speaking spellcheckers are recommended, especially if the student may not be able to recognize the correct word (headphones are usually included).

·         Change the tools

·         Allow the student to use cursive or manuscript, whichever is most legible

·         Allow older students to use the line width of their choice. Keep in mind that some students use small writing to disguise its messiness or spelling, though.

·         Allow students to use paper or writing instruments of different colors.

·         Allow student to use graph paper for math, or to turn lined paper sideways, to help with lining up columns of numbers.

·         Allow the student to use the writing instrument that is most comfortable. Many students have difficulty writing with ballpoint pens, preferring pencils or pens which have more friction in contact with the paper. Mechanical pencils are very popular. Let the student find a 'favorite pen' or pencil (and then get more than one like that).

·         Have some fun grips available for everybody, no matter what the grade. Sometimes high school kids will enjoy the novelty of pencil grips or even big "primary pencils."

·         Word Processing should be an option for many reasons. Bear in mind that for many of these students, learning to use a word processor will be difficult for the same reasons that handwriting is difficult. There are some keyboarding instructional programs which address the needs of learning disabled students. Features may include teaching the keys alphabetically (instead of the "home row" sequence), or sensors to change the 'feel' of the D and K keys so that the student can find the right position kinesthetically.

·         Consider whether use of speech recognition software will be helpful. As with word processing, the same issues which make writing difficult can make learning to use speech recognition software difficult, especially if the student has reading or speech challenges. However, if the student and teacher are willing to invest time and effort in 'training' the software to the student's voice and learning to use it, the student can be freed from the motor processes of writing or keyboarding.

Modifications:

For some students and situations, accommodations will be inadequate to remove the barriers that their writing problems pose. Here are some ways assignments can be modified without sacrificing learning.

·         Adjust the volume

·         Reduce the copying elements of assignments and tests. For example, if students are expected to 'answer in complete sentences that reflect the question,' have the student do this for three questions that you select, then answer the rest in phrases or words (or drawings). If students are expected to copy definitions, allow the student to shorten them or give him the definitions and have him highlight the important phrases and words or write an example or drawing of the word instead of copying the definition.

·         Reduce the length requirements on written assignments -- stress quality over quantity.

·         Change the complexity

·         Grade different assignments on individual parts of the writing process, so that for some assignments "spelling doesn't count," for others, grammar.

·         Develop cooperative writing projects where different students can take on roles such as the 'brainstormer,' 'organizer of information,' 'writer,' 'proofreader,' and 'illustrator.'

·         Provide extra structure and intermittent deadlines for long-term assignments. Help the student arrange for someone to coach him through the stages so that he doesn't get behind. Discuss with the student and parents the possibility of enforcing the due dates by working after school with the teacher in the event a deadline arrives and the work is not up-to-date.

·         Change the format

·         Offer the student an alternative project such as an oral report or visual project. Establish a rubric to define what you want the student to include.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/6202

Definitions:

• Accommodate -- reduce the impact that writing has on learning or expressing knowledge -- without substantially changing the process or the product.
• Modify -- change the assignments or expectations to meet the student's individual needs for learning.