Difficulty with Handwriting (Dysgraphia)

Dysgraphia is more than just bad handwriting. It’s not a sign that your child isn’t trying hard. It’s a processing disorder in the brain.

Writing thoughts down on paper requires complex information processing and fine motor skills. Normally, the brain stores information and calls it up later in order to communicate. The brain has to process thoughts into words. Then the hand and fingers have to use fine motor skills to write them down on paper.  

Dysgraphia can affect the way your child organizes the information stored in the brain. It also affects the fine motor skills and processing skills required to write. For children with this problem, just holding a pencil and organizing the letters on a line is harder than for other children. What they end up writing does not represent what they really know.

Most kids will have difficulty while trying to master language through penmanship. However, if your child consistently struggles with writing words on paper, spelling, or with putting thoughts on paper, you may want to have your child evaluated for dysgraphia.

There’s no cure for dysgraphia, but there are free or low-cost resources help improve your child’s writing. These can help your child have a better experience in school and other areas of life. 

Common symptoms of dysgraphia include:

• Holding the pencil with a tight, awkward grip
• Having handwriting that’s very hard to read
• Getting tired while writing
• Speaking the words aloud while writing
• Having trouble spacing words and sentences out on paper
• Leaving words out of sentences or not completing words
• Having trouble with sentence structure and grammar
• Having trouble organizing thoughts on paper
• Avoiding assignments that involve writing or drawing
• Having a big difference between understanding shown through speech and that shown through writing

Symptoms also can vary with age. For example, preschool children might not like to draw or color. School-age children might struggle to write on a line or might make letters of very different sizes. Teenagers may write in very simple sentences and make a lot more grammatical mistakes than their peers.

If you notice your child is struggling with handwriting despite practice and coaching from educators, you should contact your child’s healthcare provider. They will first work to rule out any other diseases or conditions that may be causing your child’s writing difficulties.

Experts are not sure what exactly causes dysgraphia in children. Dysgraphia is often associated with other learning disorders such as dyslexia (which causes difficulty reading) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It also tends to run in families.

Handwriting problems are usually first identified at school. A licensed professional trained in learning disorders will diagnose dysgraphia. The specialist will give your child writing tests that measure his or her ability to put thoughts into words. During these tests, the specialist will also observe the following:

• Pencil grip
• Penmanship
• Writing processes
• Posture
• Facial expressions

There is no cure for dysgraphia. Treatment will depend on your child’s age and whether they have other learning disabilities. Medicines used to treat ADHD has helped some children with dysgraphia. Be sure to discuss medicine with your child’s healthcare provider.

There are things you can do to help your child overcome some challenges associated with dysgraphia. For example, you can have your child:

• Use a computer or other electronic devices, instead of writing by hand.
• Show their learning in ways to require less writing.
• Work with an occupational therapist to help increase hand-eye coordination while writing. An occupational therapist is a specialist who helps people learn the specific everyday activities they need to do.

The important thing is to work with your child’s school to create an action plan that will help your child succeed academically. A child with dysgraphia qualifies for special education services. Ask your child’s school about free and low-cost services.

Since the cause of dysgraphia in children is unknown, there is no way to prevent it.

Understood

Difficulty with handwriting is a symptom of a learning disability sometimes called dysgraphia [dis-GRAF-ee-u]. The disability may also affect spelling and a child’s ability to put thoughts on paper. Children with dysgraphia may avoid writing tasks or have illegible handwriting despite practice in school and at home. Learning specialists can help a child with this problem.