Guest Author - Meg Grooms

Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder that shows itself in a person's handwriting. Dysgraphic tendancies can appear as early as three years of age but a diagnosis is usually not made until after the age of seven. Dysgraphia can also appear after a head injury.

Children with dysgraphia typically exhibit two or more of the following signs. It is important to remember that these signs are normal in children. A child is not diagnosed dysgraphic unless these signs persist after intense individual instruction.

-Improperly spaced letters and words
-Nonsensical mixture of lower and upper case letters
-Writing vertically or down the paper instead of across
-Inability to use the lines on the paper as a guide
-Physical pain while writing
-Pressing so hard on the pencil that they rip the paper
-Overzealous erasing that rips the paper
-Cannot write words they hear through dictation
-Outrageously odd spelling, continuing phonetic spelling well into the late elementary and middle school years
-Hearing the word “pot” and writing the word “pan”

If your child is dysgraphic it's important to remember that handwriting is painful for them, but not impossible. The more your child practices their handwriting the easier it will become in time. Some ideas for teaching the dysgraphic child are:

-Allow children in the early elementary years to narrate to you or into a tape recorder
-The use of copywork is useful for children of the upper elementary grades and higher (Copywork is giving a child a word, sentence or paragraph to read and copy exactly. Copywork teaches all aspects of the language arts at once.)
-Allow the child to use thick pencils, pens or markers
-Use markers or pens instead of pencils as they glide over the paper easier
-Allow your child to find a pencil grip that is comfortable for them and functional, even if their grip is not “right”
-Think BIG, instead of paper use a large whiteboard, a chalkboard, an easel, newsprint, etc. Take a photograph of the child's writing for portfolio use.
-Older children can be encouraged to use a word processing program with a spellcheck.
-Use toys such as train sets, construction sets and video game controllers to develop fine motor skills
-Do not use curriculums that rely on large amounts of handwriting, especially in the early years.
-Limit handwriting time to no more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time to avoid exhaustion
-If your child begins to cry or show signs of exhaustion allow them a break twice as long as their writing time
-Consider alternative writing assignments. Your child may be receptive to taking notes in a journal or doodling in a small tablet.
-Be less concerned about the method of handwriting taught and allow your child to develop a method that is comfortable and functional for them (as most adults do!)


New to Homeschooling?
Take a look at my ebook
Homeschooling With Confidence: A Plain English Guide to Homeschooling in the United States