Dysgraphia Infographic

Dysgraphia

More than just messy handwriting!

Fact Check

Dysgraphia refers to difficulty with .writing. One of the main signs is messy handwriting, but it affects more. Learn more about the signs of dysgraphia.

It is no indicator of intellect.

It can be improved with help.

Dysgraphia is not a learning disability or a formal diagnosis.

It does not cause trouble putting thoughts into writing.

In the school setting

This is not a complete list. For more suggestions >>

Therapies

Info

Teaching Strategies

Info

Accommodations

Info

Signs of Dysgraphia

One of the most visible signs of dysgraphia is messy handwriting, however, other people with dysgraphia may also struggle with the following.

• Inconsistent letter formation
• Writing grammatically correct sentences
• Spacing letters correctly
• Writing in a straight line
• Holding and controlling a writing tool
• Writing clearly enough to read back later
• Writing complete words without skipping letters
• Irregular letter size
• Slow or labored writing

Therapies

Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy can help people of all ages. For school aged children, this can be provided through school based services. Occupational Therpists can help improve fine motor skills and motor planning. They can also help with appropriate arm position and body posture for writing, and improve hand strength. Physical Therapists can help improve gross motor skills.

Teaching Strategy

Teachers can use multisensory techniques to help students improve in areas of struggle like handwriting, typing, and spelling. Teachers can also use explicit instruction to teach the rules of writing and spelling. One source says that writing challenges are often related to reading challenges, so multisensory instruction can be benefitial to teach basic reading skills like decoding. Strengthening decoding skills can help improve spelling skills.

Accommodations

To help make all aspects of writing easier for students, teachers can provide accommodations in the classroom - whether it be through classroom materials, routines, giving instructions, or completing tests and assignments. It can be helpful to provide students with pencil grips or different types of pencils to see which work best for them. An occupational therapist can also help with ideas for correcting writing posture and pencil grip. Providing handouts, fill in the blank notes, extra time, or alternative notetaking can help so there is not as much for the student to copy from the board. This can put the focus on more of what the teacher is saying rather than the laborious task of writing and spelling. For more accommodation ideas, click the link at the top of "In the school setting" section.