Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia affects a person’s writing ability and fine motor skills. Writing is a huge challenge and extremely laborious for a person with dysgraphia.

What is Dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia affects a person’s writing ability and fine motor skills. Writing is a huge challenge and extremely laborious for a person with dysgraphia. It also can interfere with spelling, word spacing and letter sizing. Generally, it’s difficult to put thoughts on paper. It can interfere with the learning of written language from an early age.

A person with dysgraphia is excellent at convincing people about a cause that they believe in. They’re normally natural leaders.

What are the three main types of dysgraphia?

 

  • Motor dysgraphia: This type of dysgraphia is characterized by difficulty with fine motor skills. This can make it difficult to form letters and words correctly.
  • Visual dysgraphia: This type of dysgraphia is characterized by difficulty with visual processing. This can make it difficult to see letters and words correctly.
  • Auditory dysgraphia: This type of dysgraphia is characterized by difficulty with auditory processing. This can make it difficult to hear letters and words correctly.

What causes Dysgraphia?

If dysgraphia appears in childhood, it can be due to a problem with orthographic coding. This aspect of the brain enables permanent memory of written words and how to move your hands to write.

If dysgraphia appears in adults, the cause is usually due to damage to the left parietal lobe due to a stroke or other brain injury. The left parietal lobe part of the brain is associated with skills including reading and writing.

Those with ADHD or dyslexia may be at increased risk of developing dysgraphia.

What are the signs of Dysgraphia?

People with dysgraphia often have unclear writing and may take a long time to translate their thoughts onto paper.
 

Some common dysgraphia symptoms include:

  • Incorrect spelling and capitalisation
  • Missing words or letters from sentences
  • A mix of handwriting styles
  • Struggle to fit writing outside margins with incorrect sizing and spacing of letters
  • Slow writing
  • Holding the pen tightly when writing, leading to hand cramps
  • Struggle to copy words
  • Difficulty concentrating on other things when writing
  • Unable to visualise words before writing them, so may say words aloud
Writing is a challenge for someone with dysgraphia and the above symptoms are just some signs that someone may be struggling with it.

Common Dysgraphia strengths

Storytellers

They’re great at telling stories and keeping people’s interest for an extended period of time. Writing as a way of expressing themselves is challenging, which is why they have overdeveloped their verbal expression.

Problem Solvers

Growing up constantly trying to keep up with peers can prove to be a great life lesson. The need to be adaptable and to think on their feet means that they’re skilled at finding creative solutions to a problem.

Leaders

They’re natural leaders because of their innate ability to read a situation and create consensus in a group. They’re also good at seeing the big picture and working as a team to achieve goals.

Good oral memory

Growing up with dysgraphia means that they can’t rely on writing things down to memorise. Instead, they tend to remember what people tell them verbally.

Examples of good jobs for people with Dysgraphia

  • Teacher
  • Personal / job Coach
  • Team leaders
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Real estate agent

How is Dysgraphia treated?

Whilst there isn’t a cure for dysgraphia, there are steps that can be taken to improve handwriting and motor skills. Some of the below methods might help someone who has dysgraphia.

  • Using a stress ball to improve hand-muscle strength and motor skills
  • Writing on wide-ruled paper to help with spacing
  • Using text-to-speech software to get thoughts down clearly
  • Use pen or pencil grips for comfort
  • Build strength with activities such as yoga – to boost stability and motor skills
  • Avoid fluorescent lights that can interfere with writing focus
  • Use blue light filters to improve focus and reduce eye strain